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CHASING  THE  SUN 

OR 

RAMBLES  IN  NORWAY 


BY 

R.  M.   BALLANTYNE 

AUTHOR  OF  "GORILLA  HUNTERS,"   "FIGHTING  THE 

WHALES,"    "FAST    IN    THE    ICE,"    "AWAY 

IN  THE  WILDERNESS,"  ETC. 


NEW  YORK 
THE   MERSHON   COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  FAGB 

I.    Preparations  for  the  Chase,        .       .        i 
II.    The  Storm  and  the  First  Adventure,      13 

III.  Bergen — Talking,  Supping,  and  Sleep- 

ing under  Difficulties,       ...      36 

IV.  A  Ghost  and  a  Custom — A  Fish-Mar- 

ket AND  A  Norse  Lover,      ...      46 

V.  Cariole  Traveling — Miserable  Lodging 

AND  Poor  Fare — Native  Peculiarities 
— A  Night  Battle,        ....      69 
VI.    Deceptive  Appearances — Perpetual  Day 
— Perplexities   about    Bedtime — Con- 
fusion OF  Mind, 94 

VII.    A  Sunday  on  Shore,        ....    109 
VIII.    Visit  to  a  Strange  People — The   Mid- 
night Sun, 124 

IX.    Miscellaneous  Adventures — The  Value 

OF  Language — Salmon  Fishing,           .    145 
X.    Conclusion, 167 

iii 


CHASING  THE  SUN. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PREPARATIONS  FOR  THE  CHASE. 

Fred  Temple  was  a  tall,  handsomg 
young  fellow  of  about  five-and-twenty. 

He  had  a  romantic  spirit,  a  quiet,  gentle- 
manly manner,  a  pleasant  smile,  and  a  pas- 
sionate desire  for  violent  exercise.  To  loolc 
at  him  you  would  have  supposed  that  he  was 
rather  a  lazy  man,  for  all  his  motions  were 
slow  and  deliberate.  He  was  never  in  a 
hurry  and  looked  as  if  it  would  take  a  great 
deal  to  excite  him.  But  those  who  knew 
Fred  Temple  well  used  to  say  that  there  was 


2  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

a  great  deal  more  in  him  than  appeared  at 
first  sight.  Sometimes  a  sudden  flush  of  the 
brow  or  a  gleam  of  his  eyes  told  of  hidden 
fires  within. 

Fred,  when  a  small  boy,  was  extremely 
fond  of  daring  and  dangerous  expeditions. 
He  had  risked  his  life  hundreds  of  times  on 
tree-tops  and  precipices  for  birds'  nests,  and 
had  fought  more  hand-to-hand  battles  than 
any  of  the  old  Greek  or  Roman  heroes. 
After  he  became  a  man  he  risked  his  life 
more  than  once  in  saving  the  lives  of  others, 
and  it  was  a  notable  fact  that  many  of  the 
antagonists  of  his  boyhood  became,  at  last, 
his  most  intimate  friends. 

Fred  Temple  was  fair  and  ruddy.  At 
about  the  age  of  nineteen  certain  parts  of 
his  good-looking  face  became  covered  with  a 
substance  resembling  floss-silk.  At  twenty- 
five  this  substance  had  changed  into  a  pair 
of  light  whiskers  and  a  lighter  mustache. 


PREPARATIONS   FOR   THE   CHASE.  3 

By  means  of  that  barbarous  practice  called 
shaving  he  kept  his  chin  smooth. 

Fred's  father  was  a  wealthy  Liverpool 
merchant.  At  the  period  when  our  tale 
opens  Fred  himself  had  become  chief  man- 
ager of  the  business.  People  began,  about 
this  time,  to  say  that  the  business  could  not 
get  on  without  him.  There  were  a  great 
number  of  hands,  both  men  and  women,  em- 
ployed by  Temple  &  Son,  and  there  was  not 
one  about  the  establishment,  raale  or  female, 
who  did  not  say  and  believe  that  Mr.  Fred- 
erick was  the  best  master,  not  only  in  Liver- 
pool, but  in  the  whole  world.  He  did  not, 
by  any  means,  overdose  the  people  with  at- 
tentions ;  but  he  had  a  hearty,  off-hand  way 
of  addressing  them  that  was  very  attractive. 
He  was  a  firm  ruler.  No  skulker  had  a 
chance  to  escape  from  his  sharp  eye ;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  no  hard-working  servant 
was  overlooked. 


4  CHASING   THE   SUN. 

One  day  it  was  rumored  in  the  works  that 
Mr.  Frederick  was  going  to  take  a  long  hoH- 
day.  Since  his  appointment  to  the  chief 
charge,  Fred  had  taken  few  hoHdays  and  had 
worked  so  hard  that  he  began  to  have  a 
careworn  aspect;  so  the  people  said  they 
were  "  glad  to  hear  it;  no  one  in  the  works 
deserved  a  long  holiday  better  than  he." 
But  the  people  were  not  a  little  puzzled  when 
Bob  Bowie,  the  office  porter,  told  them  that 
their  young  master  was  going  away  for 
three  months  to  chase  the  sun. 

"Chase  the  sun.  Bob!  What  d'ye 
mean  ?  "  said  one. 

"  I  don't  know  wot  I  mean ;  I  can  only  tell 
ye  wot  I  say,"  answered  Bowie  bluntly. 

Bob  Bowie  was  an  old  salt — a  retired  sea- 
man— ^who  had  sailed  long  as  steward  of 
one  of  the  ships  belonging  to  the  house  of 
Temple  &  Son,  and,  in  consequence  of  gal- 
lantry in  saving  the  life  of  a  comrade,  had 


PREPARATIONS  FOR   THE   CHASE.  $ 

been  pensioned  off,  and  placed  in  an  easy- 
post  about  the  office  with  good  pay.  He 
was  called  old  Bob  because  he  looked  old  and 
was  weather-worn,  but  he  was  stout  and 
hale,  and  still  lively  enough  for  active 
service. 

"  Come,  Bowie,"  cried  another,  "  how 
d'ye  know  he's  goin'  to  chase  the  sun?  " 

"  'Cause  I  hear'd  him  say  so,"  replied 
Bob. 

"Was  he  in  earnest?"  inquired  a  third. 

"  In  coorse  he  wos,"  said  Bob. 

"  Then  it's  my  opinion,"  replied  the  other, 
"  that  old  Mr.  Temple  '11  have  to  chase  his 
son  and  clap  him  in  a  strait-jacket  w'en  he 
catches  him,  if  he  talks  such  stuff." 

The  porter  could  not  understand  a  joke 
and  did  not  like  one,  so  he  turned  on  his 
heel,  and,  leaving  his  friends  to  laugh  at 
their  comrade's  jest,  proceeded  to  the  count- 
ing-room. 


6  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

There  were  two  counting-rooms — a  small 
outer  and  a  large  inner  one.  In  the  outer 
room  sat  a  tall,  middle-aged  man,  lanky  and 
worn  in  appearance,  and  with  a  red  nose. 
Opposite  to  him,  at  the  same  desk,  sat  a 
small,  fat  boy  with  a  round  red  face  and 
no  chin  to  speak  of.  The  man  was  writing 
busily,  the  boy  was  drawing  a  caricature  of 
the  man,  also  busily. 

Passing  these.  Bob  Bowie  entered  the  in- 
ner office,  where  a  dozen  clerks  were  all 
busily  employed  or  pretending  to  be  so. 
Going  straight  onward  like  a  homeward- 
bound  ship,  keeping  his  eyes  right  ahead. 
Bob  was  stranded  at  last  in  front  of  a  green 
door,  at  which  he  knocked  and  was  answered 
by  a  hearty  "  Come  in." 

The  porter  went  in  and  found  Fred  Tem- 
ple seated  at  a  table  which  was  covered  with 
books  and  papers. 

"  Oh !  I  sent  for  you,  Bowie,  to  say  that 


PREPARATIONS   FOR   THE   CHASE.  7 

I  want  you  to  go  with  me  to  Norway  to- 
morrow morning." 

"  To  Norway,  sir ! "  said  Bowie,  in  sur- 
prise. 

"  Aye,  surely  you're  not  growing  timid  in 
your  old  age.  Bob !  It  is  but  a  short  voyage 
of  two  or  three  days.  My  little  schooner  is 
a  good  sea-boat  and  a  first-rate  sailer." 

"  Why,  as  for  bein'  timid"  said  the  por- 
ter, rubbing  the  end  of  his  nose,  which  was 
copper-colored  and  knotty,  "  I  don't  think  I 
ever  knowed  that  there  feelin',  but  it  does 
take  a  feller  aback  to  be  told  all  of  a  suddent, 
after  he's  reg'larly  laid  up  in  port,  to  get 
ready  to  trip  anchor  in  twelve  hours  and 
bear  away  over  the  North  Sea — not  that  I 
cares  a  brass  farthin'  for  that  fish-pond, 
blow  high,  blow  low,  but  it's  raither  sud- 
dent, d'ye  see,  and  my  rig  aint  just  sea- 
worthy." 

Bowie  glanced  uneasily  at  his  garments, 


8  CHASING   THE  SUN. 

which  were  a  cross  between  those  of  a  rail- 
way-guard and  a  policeman. 

"  Never  mind  the  rig,  Bob,"  cried  Fred, 
laughing.  "  Do  you  get  ready  to  start,  with 
all  the  underclothing  you  have,  by  six  to- 
morrow morning.  We  shall  go  to  Hull  by 
rail,  and  I  will  see  to  it  that  your  top-sails 
are  made  all  right." 

"  Wery  good,  sir." 

"  You've  not  forgotten  how  to  make  a 
lob-scouse  or  plum-duff,  I  dare  say?  " 

Bob's  eyes  brightened,  as  he  replied 
stoutly :  "  By  no  manner  o'  means." 

"Then  be  off;  and,  remember,  sharp 
six." 

"  Aye,  aye,  sir,"  cried  the  old  seaman,  in 
a  nautical  tone  that  he  had  not  used  for 
many  years,  and  the  very  sound  of  which 
stirred  his  heart  with  old  memories.  He 
was  about  to  retire,  but  paused  at  the 
threshold  of  the  green  door. 


PREPARATIONS   FOR   THE   CHASE.  9 

"Beg  parding,  sir;  but  if  I  might  make 
so  bold  as  to  ax " 

"  Go  on.  Bob,"  said  Fred  encouragingly. 

"  I  hear'd  ye  say  to  our  cashier,  sir,  that 
you  wos  goin'  for  to  chase  the  sun.  Wot 
sort  of  a  chase  may  that  be,  sir?  " 

"  Ha !  Bowie,  that's  a  curious  chase,  but 
not  a  wild-goose  one,  as  I  hope  to  show  you 
in  a  month  or  two.  You  know,  of  course, 
that  in  the  regions  of  the  earth  north  of  the 
Arctic  Circle  the  sun  shines  by  night  as  well 
as  by  day  for  several  weeks  in  summer  ?  " 

"  In  coorse  I  do,"  answered  Bob,  "  every 
seaman  knows  that,  or  ought  for  to  know 
it;  and  that  it's  dark  all  day  as  well  as  all 
night  in  winter  for  some  weeks  just  to  make 
up  for  it,  so  to  speak." 

"Well,  Bob,  I  am  very  desirous  to  see 
this  wonderful  sight  with  my  own  eyes,  but 
I  fear  I  am  almost  too  late  setting  out.  The 
season  is  so  far  advanced  that  the  sun  is  set- 


lO  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

ting  farther  and  farther  north  every  night, 
and  if  the  winds  baffle  us  I  won't  be  able 
to  catch  him  sitting  up  all  night;  but  if  the 
winds  serve^  and  we  have  plenty  of  them,  we 
may  yet  be  in  time  to  see  him  draw  an  un- 
broken circle  in  the  sky.  You  see  it  will  be 
a  regular  chase,  for  the  sun  travels  north  at 
a  rapid  pace.     D'you  understand  ?  " 

Bob  Bowie  grinned,  nodded  his  head  sig- 
nificantly, retired,  and  shut  the  door. 

Fred  Temple,  left  alone,  seized  a  quill  and 
scribbled  off  two  notes — one  to  a  friend  in 
Scotland,  the  other  to  a  friend  in  Wales. 
The  note  to  Scotland  ran  as  follows : 

"  My  Dear  Grant  :  I  have  made  up  my 
mind  to  go  to  Norway  for  three  months. 
Principal  object  to  chase  the  sun.  Second- 
ary objects,  health  and  amusement.  Will 
you  go?  You  will  find  my  schooner  com- 
fortable, my  society  charming  (if  you  make 


PREPARATIONS   FOR    THE   CHASE.  II 

yourself  agreeable),  and  no  end  of  salmon- 
fishing  and  scenery.  Reply  by  return  of 
post.  I  go  to  Hull  to-morrow  and  will  be 
there  a  week.  This  will  give  you  ample 
time  to  get  ready. 

"  Ever  thine, 

"  Fred  Temple." 

The  note  to  Wales  was  addressed  to  Sam 
Sorrel,  and  was  written  in  somewhat  similar 
terms,  but  Sam,  being  a  painter  by  pro- 
fession, the  beauty  of  the  scenery  was  en- 
larged on  and  held  out  as  an  inducement. 

Both  of  Fred's  friends  had  been  prepared 
sometime  before  for  this  proposal,  and  both 
of  them  at  once  agreed  to  assist  him  in 
"  chasing  the  sun." 

That  night  Frederick  Temple  dreamed 
that  the  sun  smiled  on  him  in  a  peculiarly 
sweet  manner;  he  dreamed,  still  further,  that 
it  beckoned  him  to  follow  it  to  the  far  north, 


la  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

whereupon  he  was  suddenly  transformed 
into  a  gigantic  locomotive  engine;  the  sun 
all  at  once  became  a  green  dragon  with  pink 
eyes  and  a  blue  tail,  and  he  set  off  in  chase  of 
it  into  the  Arctic  regions  with  a  noise  like 
a  long  roar  of  the  loudest  thunder ! 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    STORM    AND    THE    FIRST    ADVENTURE, 

A  STORM  raged  on  the  bosom  of  the  NortH 
Sea.  The  wind  whistled  as  if  all  the  spirits 
of  ocean  were  warring  with  each  other  fu- 
riously. The  waves  writhed  and  tossed  on 
the  surface  as  if  in  agony.  White  foam, 
greenish-gray  water  and  leaden-colored  sky 
were  all  that  met  the  eyes  of  the  men  that 
stood  upon  the  deck  of  a  little  schooner  that 
rose  and  sank  and  staggered  helplessly  be- 
fore the  tempest. 

Truly  it  was  a  grand  sight — a  terrible 
sight — to  behold  that  little  craft  battling 
with  the  storm.     It  suggested  the  idea  of 

'3 


14  CHASING    THE    SUN. 

God's  might  and  forbearance — of  man's  dar- 
ing and  helplessness. 

The  schooner  was  named  the  SnowHake. 
It  seemed,  indeed,  little  heavier  than  a  flake 
of  snow  or  a  scrap  of  foam,  in  the  grasp  of 
that  angry  sea.  On  her  deck  stood  five  men. 
Four  were  holding  on  to  the  weather 
shrouds;  the  fifth  stood  at  the  helm.  There 
was  only  a  narrow  rag  of  the  top-sail,  and 
the  jib,  shown  to  the  wind,  and  even  this 
small  amount  of  canvas  caused  the  schooner 
to  lie  over  so  much  that  it  seemed  a  wonder 
she  did  not  upset. 

Fred  Temple  was  one  of  the  men  who 
held  on  to  the  weather  rigging;  two  of  the 
others  were  his  friends,  Grant  and  Sam  Sor- 
rel, the  fourth  was  one  of  the  crew,  and  the 
man  at  the  helm  was  the  captain;  for,  al- 
though Fred  understood  a  good  deal  of  sea- 
manship, he  did  not  choose  to  take  on  his 
own  shoulders  the  responsibility  of  navi- 


THE   FIRST    ADVENTURE.  15 

gating  the  yacht.  He  employed  for  that 
purpose  a  regular  seaman  whom  he  styled 
captain,  and  never  interfered  with  except  to 
tell  him  where  he  wished  to  go. 

Captain  M'Nab  was  a  big,  tough,  raw- 
boned  man  of  the  Orkney  Islands.  He  was 
born  at  sea,  had  lived  all  his  life  at  sea,  and 
meant  (so  he  said)  to  die  at  sea.  He  was 
a  grim,  hard-featured  old  fellow  with  a  face 
that  had  been  so  long  battered  by  storms 
that  it  looked  more  like  the  figure-head  of  a 
South  Sea  whaler  than  the  countenance  of 
a  living  man.  He  seldom  smiled  and  when 
he  did  he  smiled  grimly;  never  laughed,  and 
never  spoke  when  he  could  avoid  it.  He 
was  wonderfully  slow,  both  in  speech  and 
action,  but  he  was  a  first-rate  and  fearless 
seaman  in  whom  the  owner  of  the  schooner 
had  perfect  confidence. 

As  we  have  fallen  into  a  descriptive  vein, 
it  may  be  as  well  to  describe  the  rest  of  our 


l6  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

friends,  off-hand.  Norman  Grant  was  a 
sturdy  Highlander,  about  the  same  size  as 
his  friend  Temple,  but  a  great  contract  to 
him;  for  while  Temple  was  fair  and  ruddy, 
Grant  was  dark,  with  hair,  beard,  whiskers, 
and  mustache  bushy,  and  black  as  night. 
Grant  was  a  Highlander  in  heart  as  well  as 
in  name,  for  he  wore  a  Glengarry  bonnet  and 
a  kilt,  and  did  not  seem  at  all  ashamed  of 
exposing  to  view  his  brown  hairy  knees. 
He  was  a  hearty  fellow,  with  a  rich,  deep- 
toned  voice  and  a  pair  of  eyes  so  black  and 
glittering  that  they  seemed  to  pierce  right 
through  you  and  come  out  at  your  back, 
when  he  looked  at  you.  Temple,  on  the 
contrary,  was  clad  in  gray  tweed  from  head 
to  foot,  wide-awake  included,  and  looked, 
as  he  was,  a  thorough  Englishman.  Grant 
was  a  doctor  by  profession;  by  taste,  a  nat- 
uralist. He  loved  to  shoot  and  stuff  birds 
of  every  shape,  and  size,  and  hue,  and  to 


THE    FIRST    ADVENTURE.  1 7 

collect  and  squeeze  flat,  plants  of  every  form 
and  name.  His  rooms  at  home  were  filled 
with  strange  specimens  of  birds,  beasts, 
fishes,  and  plants  from  every  part  of  Scot- 
land, England,  and  Ireland — to  the  disgust 
of  his  old  nurse,  whose  duty  it  was  to  dust 
them,  and  to  the  delight  of  his  little  brother, 
whose  self-imposed  duty  it  was  to  pull  out 
their  tails  and  pick  out  their  eyes. 

Grant's  trip  to  Norway  promised  a  rich 
harvest  in  a  new  field,  so  he  went  there  with 
romantic  anticipations. 

Sam  Sorrel  was  like  neither  of  his  com- 
panions. He  was  a  little  fellow — a  mere 
spider  of  a  man,  and  extremely  thin;  so  thin 
that  it  seemed  as  if  his  skin  had  been  drawn 
over  the  bones  in  a  hurry  and  the  flesh  for- 
gotten. The  captain  once  said  to  Bob 
Bowie  in  a  moment  of  confidence  that  Mr. 
Sorrel  was  a  "  mere  spunk,"  whereupon  Bob 
nodded  his   head  and   said  that  he  was 


xS  CHASDKG  TBK  SCIK. 

no  better  than  "haH  a  fiitfaom  of  pcmip- 
irater." 

If  time  was  fitlle  of  Sam,  however,  tbat 
litde  was  good  stnflL  It  has  been  said  Aat 
he  was  a  painter  by  professaoa.  Certain^ 
tiierc  was  not  a  more  firflHiMastic  artist  in 
die  kingdom.  Sam  was  a  strange  mixime 
of  eafiifsluc56^  enilnnwasm,  and  fnn.  Al- 
tfaoog^  as  dun  as  a  waDdii^-stick  and  ahnost 
as  flat  as  a  pancake;  he  was  too^  like  wire, 
coidd  walk  anj  distanrr,  ooold  le^  fartiier 
tiian  anjbody,  and  coald  swim  like  a  cork. 
His  features  were  diarp,  pronmient,  and  ex- 
Cffding^  handsome.  His  eyes  were  large, 
dark,  and  capressive,  and  were  sarmomted 
hf  delicate  cjdbrows  which  mored  about 
colli  iiiiMHy  with  every  cfaangefnl  feding 
tiiat  fined  his  breast.  When  excited,  his 
gMncr  was  magnificent  and  the  natural 
wildncss  of  Ins  whc^  a^xct  was  increased 
hf  the  luxuriance  of  his  brown  hair,  whicfa 


THE   FIRST    ADVENTURE.'  1 9 

hung  in  long  elf-locks  over  his  shoulders. 
Among  his  intimates  he  was  known  by  the 
name  of  "  Mad  Sam  Sorrel." 

When  we  have  said  that  the  crew  of  the 
schooner  consisted  of  six  picked  men  be- 
sides those  described  and  our  friend  Bob 
Bowie,  we  have  enumerated  all  the  human 
beings  who  stood  within  the  bulwarks  of 
that  trim  little  yacht  on  that  stormy  sum- 
mer's day. 

There  was,  however,  one  other  being  on 
board  that  deserves  notive.  It  was  Sam 
Sorrel's  dog.  Like  its  master,  this  dog  w^as 
a  curious  creature.  It  was  little  and  thin, 
and  without  form  of  any  distinct  or  positive 
kind.  If  we  could  suppose  that  this  dog 
had  been  permitted  to  make  itself,  and  that 
it  had  begun  with  the  sky  terrier,  suddenly 
changed  its  mind  and  attempted  to  come  the 
poodle,  then  midway  in  this  effort  had  got 
itself  very  mucli  disheveled  and  become  so 


«0  CHASING   THE   SUN. 

entangled  that  it  was  too  late  to  do  any- 
thing better  than  finish  off  with  a  wild  at- 
tempt at  a  long-eared  spaniel,  one  could  un- 
derstand how  such  a  creature  as  "  Titian  " 
had  come  into  existence. 

Sam  had  meant  to  pay  a  tribute  of  respect 
to  the  great  painter  when  he  named  his  dog 
Titian.  But,  having  done  his  duty  in  this 
matter,  he  found  it  convenient  to  shorten  the 
name  into  Tit — sometimes  Tittles.  Tittles 
had  no  face  whatever,  as  far  as  could  be 
seen  by  the  naked  eye.  His  whole  mis- 
shapen body  was  covered  with  long  shaggy 
hair  of  a  light  gray  color.  Only  the  end 
of  his  black  nose  was  visible  in  front,  and 
the  extreme  point  of  his  tail  in  rear.  But 
for  these  two  landmarks  it  would  have  been 
"Utterly  impossible  to  tell  which  end  of  the 
dog  was  which. 

Somehow  the  end  of  his  tail  had  been 
singed,  or  skinned,  or  burnt,  for  it  was  quite 


THE    FIRST    ADVENTURE.  SI 

naked  and  not  much  thicker  than  a  pipe- 
stem. 

Tittles  was  extremely  sensitive  in  regard 
to  this  and  could  not  bear  to  have  his  mis- 
erable projection  touched. 

How  that  storm  did  rage,  to  be  sure! 
The  whole  sea  was  lashed  into  a  boiling 
sheet  of  foam,  and  the  schooner  lay  over  so 
much  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  men  to 
stand  on  the  deck.  At  times  it  seemed  as  if 
she  were  thrown  on  her  beam  ends;  but  the 
good  yacht  was  buoyant  as  a  cork,  and  she 
rose  again  from  every  fresh  blast  like  an  un- 
conquerable warrior. 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  the  masts  will  be 
blown  out  of  her,"  said  Temple  to  the  cap- 
tain, as  he  grasped  the  rail  surrounding  the 
quarter-deck  and  gazed  up  with  anxiety. 

"  No  fear  o'  her,"  said  the  captain,  turn- 
ing the  quid  of  tobacco  in  his  cheek;  "  she's 
a  tight  boat,  an'  could  stand  a  heavier  sea 


22  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

than  this.  I  hope  it  '11  blow  a  wee  thing 
harder." 

"  Harder? "  exclaimed  Fred. 

"You  must  be  fond  of  wind,  captain," 
observed  Grant,  with  a  laug-h. 

"  Oo  aye,  I've  no  objection  to  wund." 

The  captain  said  this,  as  he  said  every- 
thing else,  more  than  half  through  his  nose, 
and  very  slowly. 

"  But  do  you  not  think  that  more  wind 
would  be  apt  to  carry  away  our  top-masts  or 
split  the  sails?"  said  Temple. 

"  It's  not  unlikely,"  was  the  captain's  cool 
reply. 

"Then  why  wish  for  it?"  inquired  the 
other  in  surprise. 

"  Because  we're  only  thirty  miles  from 
th«  coast  of  Norway,  and  if  the  wund  holds 
on  as  it's  doin'  we'll  not  make  the  land  till 
dark.  But  if  it  blows  harder  we'll  get  under 
shelter  of  the  Islands  by  daylight." 


THE   FIRST    ADVENTURE.  3$ 

"  Dark !  "  exclaimed  poor  Sam  Sorrel, 
who,  being  a  bad  sailor,  was  very  sick  and 
clung  to  the  lee  bulwarks  with  a  look  of 
helpless  misery;  "  I  thought  there  was  no 
dark  in  Nor " 

The  unhappy  painter  stopped  abruptly  in 
consequence  of  a  sensation  in  the  pit  of  his 
stomach. 

"  There's  not  much  darkness  in  Norway 
in  summer,"  answered  M'Nab,  "  but  at  the 
south  end  of  it  here  there's  a  little — specially 
when  the  weather  is  thick.  Aye,  I  see  it's 
comin'." 

The  peculiar  way  in  which  the  captain 
said  this  caused  the  others  to  turn  their  eyes 
to  windward  where  it  was  very  evident  that 
something  was  coming,  for  the  sky  was 
black  as  ink  and  the  sea  under  it  was  ruffled 
with  cold,  white  foam. 

"  Stand  by  the  clew-lines  and  halyards," 
roared  the  captain. 


24  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

The  men,  who  were  now  all  assembled  on 
deck,  sprang  to  obey.  As  they  did  so,  a 
squall  came  hissing  down  on  the  weather- 
quarter  and  burst  upon  the  vessel  with  such 
fury  that  for  a  moment  she  reeled  under  the 
shock  like  a  drunken  man,  while  the  spray 
deluged  her  decks  and  the  wind  shrieked 
through  her  rigging. 

But  this  was  too  violent  to  last.  It  soon 
passed  over  and  the  gale  blew  more  steadily, 
driving  the  SnowHake  over  the  North  Sea 
like  a  seamew. 

That  evening  the  mountains  of  Norway 
rose  to  view.  About  the  time  that  this  oc- 
curred the  sky  began  to  clear  toward  the 
northwest  and  soon  after  a  white  line  of 
foam  was  seen  on  the  horizon  right  ahead. 
This  was  the  ocean  beating  on  the  great 
army  of  islands  or  skerries  that  line  the  west 
coast  of  Norway  from  the  north  to  the 
south. 


THE    FIRST    ADVENTURE.  25 

"  Hurrah  for  old  Norway !  "  shouted  Fred 
Temple  with  delight,  when  he  first  observed 
the  foam  that  leaped  upon  these  bare,  rocky 
islets. 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  we  shall  be 
wrecked,"  said  Grant  gravely.  "  I  do  not 
see  an  opening  in  these  tremendous  break- 
ers, and  if  we  can't  get  through  them  even 
a  landsman  could  tell  that  we  shall  be  dashed 
to  pieces." 

"  Why  not  put  about  the  ship  and  sail 
away  from  them?"  suggested  Sorrel,  look- 
ing round  with  a  face  so  yellow  and  misera- 
ble that  even  the  captain  was  almost  forced 
to  smile. 

"  Because  that  is  simply  impossible,"  said 
Fred  Temple. 

Poor  Sam  groaned  and  looked  down  at 
his  dog,  which  sat  trembling  on  the  deck 
between  his  feet,  gazing  up  in  its  master's 
face  sadly — at  least  so  it  is  to  be  supposed, 


26  CHASING   THE   SUN. 

but  the  face  of  Tittles,  as  well  as  the  ex- 
pression thereof,  was  invisible,  owing  to 
hair. 

"  Is  there  an  opening,  captain?  "  inquired 
Fred,  in  a  low,  serious  tone. 

"  Oo,  aye,  no  fear  o'  that,"  replied  the 
captain. 

There  was,  indeed,  no  fear  of  that,  for 
as  the  schooner  approached  the  islands  nu- 
merous openings  were  observed.  It  also 
became  evident  that  the  gentlemen  had  mis- 
taken the  distance  from  the  broken  water, 
for  they  were  much  longer  in  reaching  the 
outer  skerries  than  they  had  expected,  and 
the  foam,  which  at  first  appeared  like  a  white 
line,  soon  grew  into  immense  masses,  which 
thundered  on  these  weather-worn  rocks  with 
a  deep,  loud,  continuous  roar,  and  burst  up- 
wards in  great  spouts  like  white  steam, 
many  yards  into  the  air. 

"  Captain,  are  the  islands  as  numerous 


THE    FIRST    ADVENTURE.  2^ 

everywhere  along  the  coast  as  they  are 
here  ?  "  said  Fred. 

"  'Deed  aye,  an'  more,"  answered  the 
captain,  "  some  places  ye'll  sail  for  fifty  or 
sixty  miles  after  getting  among  the  skerries, 
before  reachin'  the  main." 

They  were  now  within  a  hundred  yards 
of  the  islands,  toward  a  narrow  channel  be- 
tween two  of  which  the  captain  steered. 
Everyone  was  silent,  for  there  was  some- 
thing awful  in  the  aspect  of  the  great  dark 
waves  of  the  raging  sea  as  they  rolled  heav- 
ily forward  and  fell  with  crash  after  crash 
in  terrific  fury  on  the  rocks,  dashing  them- 
selves to  pieces  and  churning  the  water  into 
foam,  so  that  the  whole  sea  resembled 
milk. 

To  those  who  were  unaccustomed  to  the 
coast,  it  seemed  as  if  the  schooner  were 
leaping  forward  to  certain  destruction;  but 
they  knew  that  a  sure  hand  was  at  the  helm 


28  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

and  thought  not  of  the  danger  but  the  sub- 
limity of  the  scene. 

"  Stand  by  the  weather-braces,"  cried 
M'Nab. 

The  schooner  leaped,  as  he  spoke,  into  the 
turmoil  of  roaring  spray.  In  ten  seconds 
she  was  through  the  passage,  and  there  was 
a  sudden  and  almost  total  cessation  of  heav- 
ing motion.  The  line  of  islands  formed  a 
perfect  breakwater,  and  not  a  wave  was 
formed,  even  by  the  roaring  gale,  bigger 
than  those  we  find  on  such  occasions  in  an 
ordinary  harbor.  As  isle  after  isle  was 
passed  the  sea  became  more  and  more 
smooth,  and,  although  the  surface  was  torn 
up  and  covered  with  foam,  no  great  rollers 
heaved  the  vessel  about.  The  tight  little 
craft  still  bent  over  to  the  blast,  but  she  cut 
through  perfectly  flat  water  now. 

A  delightful  feeling  of  having  come  to 
the  end  of  a  rough  voyage  filled  the  hearts 


THE    FIRST    ADVENTURE.  2^ 

of  all  on  board.  Sam  Sorrel  raised  his 
head,  and  began  to  look  less  yellow  and  more 
cheerful.  Tittles  began  to  wag  the  stump 
of  his  miserable  tail,  and,  in  short,  everyone 
began  to  look  and  to  feel  happy. 

Thus  did  the  Snowflake  approach  the 
coast  of  Norway. 

Now,  it  is  by  no  means  an  uncommon  oc- 
currence in  this  world  that  a  calm  should 
follow  close  on  the  heels  of  a  storm.  Soon 
after  the  SnowHake  had  entered  the  islands, 
the  storm  began  to  abate,  as  if  it  felt  there 
was  no  chance  of  overwhelming  the  little 
yacht  now.  That  night,  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  following  day,  a  dead  calm  pre- 
vailed, and  the  schooner  lay  among  the 
islands  with  her  sails  flapping  idly  from  the 
yards. 

A  little  after  midnight  all  on  board  were 
asleep,  save  the  man  at  the  helm  and  Captain 
M'Nab,  who  seemed  to  be  capable  of  exist- 


3©  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

ing  without  sleep  for  any  length  of  time, 
when  occasion  required.  The  schooner  now 
lay  in  a  latitude  so  far  north  that  the  light 
of  the  sun  never  quite  left  the  sky  in  clear 
weather. 

A  sweet,  soft  twilight  rested  on  the  rocky 
islands  and  on  the  sea,  and  no  sound  dis- 
turbed the  stillness  except  the  creaking  of 
the  yards  or  the  cries  of  seamews. 

Yes,  by  the  way,  there  was  another  sound. 
It  proceeded  from  the  cabin  where  our  three 
friends  lay  sleeping  on  the  sofas.  The  sound 
was  that  of  snoring,  and  it  issued  from  the 
wide-open  mouth  of  Sam  Sorrel,  who  lay 
sprawling  on  his  back  with  Tittles  coiled  up 
at  his  feet. 

It  is  probable  that  Sam  would  have  snored 
on  for  hours,  but  for  a  piece  of  carelessness 
on  his  part.  Just  before  going  to  rest  he 
had  placed  a  tin  can  of  water  close  to  his 
head  in  such  a  way  that  it  was  balanced  on 


THE    FIRST    ADVENTURE.  31 

the  edge  of  a  shelf.  A  slight  roll  of  the 
schooner,  caused  by  the  entrance  of  a  wave 
through  an  opening  in  the  islands,  toppled 
this  can  over  and  emptied  its  contents  on 
the  sleeper's  face. 

He  leaped  up  with  a  roar;  of  course  Tit- 
tles jumped  up  with  a  yelp,  while  Grant  and 
Temple  growled  at  having  been  awakened, 
and  went  off  to  sleep  again. 

But  sleep  was  driven  away  from  the  eyes 
of  Sam  Sorrel.  He  made  one  or  two  efforts 
to  woo  it  back  in  vain,  so,  in  despair,  he 
jumped  up,  put  his  sketch-book  in  his  pocket, 
seized  a  double-barreled  fowling-piece,  and 
went  on  deck,  followed  by  Tittles.  The 
little  boat  was  floating  under  the  quarter,  and 
a  great  mountainous  island  lay  close  off  the 
starboard  bow.  Getting  into  the  boat,  Sam 
rowed  to  the  island,  and  was  soon  clamber- 
ing up  the  heights  with  the  activity  of  a 
squirrel. 


32  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

Sam  paused  now  and  then  to  gaze  with 
admiration  upon  the  magnificent  scene  that 
lay  spread  out  far  below  him;  the  innumera- 
ble islands,  the  calm  water  bathed  in  the 
soft  light  of  early  morning,  and  the  schooner 
floating  just  under  his  feet,  like  a  little  speck 
or  a  sea-gull  on  the  calm  sea.  Pulling  out 
his  book  and  pencil  he  sat  down  on  a  rock 
and  began  to  draw. 

Suddenly  the  artist  was  startled  by  the 
sound  of  a  heavy  pair  of  wings  overhead. 
Thousands  of  sea-gulls  flew  above  him,  fill- 
ing the  air  with  their  wild  cries;  but  Sam 
did  not  think  it  possible  that  they  could  cause 
the  sound  which  he  had  heard.  While  he 
was  still  in  doubt,  an  enormous  eagle  sailed 
majestically  past  him.  It  evidently  had  not 
seen  him,  and  he  sat  quite  still,  scarce  dar- 
ing to  draw  his  breath.  In  a  moment  the 
gigantic  bird  sailed  round  the  edge  of  a 
precipitous  cliff  and  was  gone. 


THE   FIRST    ADVENTURE.  3 J 

Sam  at  once  rose  and  hurried  forward 
with  his  gun.  He  was  much  excited,  for 
eagles  are  very  difficult  to  approach — they 
are  so  shy  and  wary.  Few  men  who  go  to 
Norway  ever  get  the  chance  of  a  shot  at  the 
king  of  birds. 

Judge,  then,  of  the  state  of  Sam  Sorrel's 
mind  when,  on  turning  a  corner  of  rock,  he 
suddenly  beheld  the  eagle  standing  on  the 
edge  of  a  great  precipice  about  a  hundred 
yards  in  advance  of  him. 

But  his  hopes  were  much  cast  down  when 
he  observed  that  between  him  and  the  eagle 
there  was  a  space  of  open  ground,  so  that  he 
could  not  creep  farther  forward  without  be- 
ing seen.  How  was  he  to  advance  ?  What 
was  he  to  do?  Such  a  chance  might  not 
occur  again  during  the  whole  voyage.  No 
time  was  to  be  lost,  so  he  resolved  to  make 
a  rush  forward  and  get  as  near  as  possible 
before  the  bird  should  take  to  flight. 


34  CHASING    THE  SUN. 

No  sooner  thought  than  done.  He 
rushed  down  the  mountain-side  like  a  mad- 
man. The  eagle  sprang  up  in  alarm  just  as 
he  reached  the  side  of  a  rounded  rock. 
Halting  suddenly,  he  took  aim  and  fired  both 
barrels.  The  eagle  gave  a  toss  of  its  head 
and  a  twirl  of  its  tail,  and,  sailing  slowly 
away  round  a  neighboring  cliff,  disappeared 
from  view. 

A  deep  groan  burst  from  the  poor  artist 
as  he  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  dear,  I've  missed  it." 

But  Sam  was  wrong.  He  had  not  missed 
it.  On  climbing  to  the  other  side  of  the  cliff 
he  found  the  eagle  stretched  on  the  ground 
in  a  dying  state.  Its  noble-looking  eye 
scowled  for  a  moment  on  him  as  he  came  up, 
then  the  head  drooped  forward,  and  the  bird 
died.  It  measured  six  feet  four  inches  from 
tip  to  tip  of  its  expanded  wings,  and  was  as 
magnificent  a  specimen  of  the  golden  eagle 
as  one  could  wish  to  see. 


THE    FIRST    ADVENTURE.  35 

With  a  triumphant  step  Sam  carried  it 
down  to  the  yacht,  where  he  found  his  com- 
panions still  sound  asleep;  so  he  quietly  fas- 
tened the  eagle  up  over  Grant's  bed,  with 
the  wings  expanded  and  the  hooked  bealc 
close  to  the  sleeper's  nose. 

The  day  that  followed  this  event  con- 
tinued calm,  but  toward  evening  a  light 
breeze  sprang  up,  and  before  midnight  the 
SnomHake  cast  anchor  in  the  harbor  of 
Bergen. 


CHAPTER   III. 

BERGEN TALKING,     SUPPING,     AND    SLEEP- 
ING   UNDER    DIFFICULTIES. 

The  city  of  Bergen  is  a  famous  and  a 
strange  old  place.  In  ancient  days  it  was 
a  stronghold  of  the  Vikings — those  notori- 
ous sea-warriors  who  were  little  better  than 
pirates,  and  who  issued  from  among  the 
dark  mountains  of  Norway  in  their  great, 
uncouth  galleys  and  swept  across  the  seas, 
landing  on  the  coasts  everywhere,  to  the 
terror  of  surrounding  nations. 

They  were  a  bold,  fearless  set,  the  Norse 

Vikings  of  old.     They  voyaged  far  and  wide 

in  open  boats  round  the  coasts  of  Europe 

and  across  the  stormy  sea  long  before  the 

36 


BERGEN.  37 

mariner's  compass  was  invented,  and  they 
discovered  Iceland  and  America  long  before 
Christopher  Columbus  was  born.  They  had 
free  spirits,  these  fierce  Norwegians  of  old, 
and  there  was  much  good  as  well  as  evil  in 
them.  They  had  good  and  wise  laws  when 
nearly  all  the  rest  of  the  world  was  lawless, 
and  many  of  the  laws  and  customs  which 
prevailed  among  them  a  thousand  years  ago 
exist  at  the  present  day.  The  bold  Vikings 
were  great  colonizers;  among  other  parts  of 
the  world  they  overran  and  settled  in  a  large 
portion  of  Great  Britain,  and  much  of  their 
blood — more  than  many  people  are  aware  of 
— flows  in  our  own  veins. 

But  I  am  wandering  from  my  subject. 
Let  me  return  to  it  by  repeating  that  Ber- 
gen, this  ancient  stronghold  of  the  Vikings, 
is  a  famous  and  a  strange  old  place. 

it  is  built  at  the  foot  of  a  steep  mountain 
range  which  is  so  close  to  the  margin  of  the 


38  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

sea  that  the  city  has  barely  room  to  stand. 
One  might  fancy  that  the  houses  were 
crowding  and  jostling  each  other  and 
squeezing  themselves  together,  in  order  to 
avoid  on  the  one  hand  being  pushed  up  the 
mountain  side,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  being 
thrust  into  the  sea.  Some  of  the  smaller 
cottages  and  a  few  villas  seem  to  have  been 
beaten  in  this  struggle  for  standing-room, 
for  they  appear  to  have  been  obliged  to 
clamber  up  the  mountain  side  and  to  perch 
themselves  on  spots  where  there  does  not 
seem  to  be  standing-room  for  a  goat.  From 
such  elevated  positions  they  look  down  com- 
placently on  their  crowded  brethren. 

The  houses  near  the  sea  have  not  fared  so 
well.  They  are  built  in  the  water  on  piles, 
and  are  all  of  them  warehouses  with  pro- 
jections in  front,  from  which  hang  blocks 
and  hoisting  tackle.  These  projections  re- 
semble heads;  the  piles  look  like  legs;  and  it 


BERGEN.  39 

3oes  not  require  a  very  strong  effort  of  Im- 
agination to  believe  that  the  warehouses  are 
great  living  creatures  which  have  waded  into 
the  sea,  and  are  looking  earnestly  down  into 
the  water  to  observe  how  the  fish  are  get- 
ting on. 

The  houses  are  all  built  of  wood;  all  are 
painted  white,  and  all  have  red-tiled  roofs. 
They  are  peaked  and  gable-ended  to  an  ex- 
traordinary degree,  so  that  the  general  aspect 
of  the  city  is  confused  and  irregular — all 
the  more  interesting  and  picturesque  on  this 
account. 

A  thought  strikes  me  here,  and  when  a 
thought  strikes  us,  I  think  we  ought  always 
to  pay  that  thought  the  compliment  of  jot- 
ting it  down.  It  is  this — regularity  in  small 
details  is  pleasing,  regularity  on  a  grand 
scale  is  disagreeable.  For  instance,  a  chair 
with  one  leg  turned,  another  square,  and  a 
third  ornamentally  carved,  would  be  a  dis- 


4©  CHASING    THE    SUN. 

agreeable  object.  The  two  front  legs  at 
least  must  be  regular,  and  the  two  back  legs 
regular.  A  chair  is  a  small  matter.  But 
proceed  to  a  grander  subject — a  city.  If 
every  house  is  similar  to  its  neighbors,  if 
every  street  is  parallel  to  the  rest,  the  effect 
is  bad;  regularity  here  is  disagreeable.  This 
is  a  deep  subject  requiring  much  study  and 
philosophical  inquiry.  If  I  were  to  go  far- 
ther into  it,  our  friend,  Fred  Temple's  ad- 
ventures would  have  to  be  cast  overboard. 
I  will,  therefore,  cut  it  short  with  the  re- 
mark that  the  subject  is  well  worthy  the  at- 
tention of  even  deeper-thinking  men  than 
are  likely  to  read  this  book. 

When  the  three  friends,  Temple,  Grant, 
and  Sorrel,  found  themselves  in  the  quaint 
old  city  of  Bergen,  their  first  thought  was 
supper;  their  second  thought,  bed. 

Now  this  may  seem  to  some  minds  a 
dreadfully  low   and  contemptible  state  of 


BERGEN,  41 

things.  "  What !  "  a  romantic  reader  may 
^xclaim,  "they  had  arrived  in  that  cele- 
brated city  from  which  in  days  of  old  the 
stalwart  Vikings  used  to  issue  on  their  dar- 
ing voyages;  in  which  the  descendants  of 
these  grand  fellows  still  dwell,  and  in  which 
are  interesting  memorials  of  the  past  and 
quaint  evidences  of  the  present?  Did  your 
heroes,  Temple,  Sorrel,  and  Grant,  think  of 
supper  and  of  bed  when  their  feet  for  the 
first  time  trod  the  soil  of  Old  Norway  ?  " 

Even  so!  Romantic  reader,  I  am  bound 
to  tell  you  that  romance  is  all  very  well  in 
its  way,  but  it  has  no  power  whatever  over 
an  empty  stomach  or  an  exhausted  brain. 

When  our  three  friends  landed  in  Bergen 
it  was  past  midnight.  Their  admiration  of 
the  scenery  had  induced  them  to  neglect  sup- 
per and  to  defy  sleep,  so  that  when  they 
landed  they  felt  more  than  half  inclined  to 
fall  upon  their  boatman  and  eat  him  up  alive, 


42  CHASING    THE   SUN, 

and  then  to  fall  down  on  the  stone  pier  and 
go  off  to  sleep  at  once. 

In  this  frame  of  mind  and  body  they  en- 
tered the  house  of  Mme.  Sontoom,  and  called 
for  supper. 

Mme.  Sontoom  was  the  owner  of  a  pri- 
vate hotel.  Moreover,  she  was  the  owner 
of  a  plump  body  and  a  warm  heart.  Con- 
sequently, she  at  once  became  a  mother  to 
all  who  were  fortunate  enough  to  dwell  un- 
der her  roof. 

Her  hotel  was  by  no  means  like  a  hotel 
in  this  country.  It  was  more  like  a  private 
residence.  There  were  no  hired  waiters. 
Her  amiable  daughters  waited;  and  they  did 
not  look  upon  you  as  a  customer,  or  con- 
duct themselves  like  servants.  No,  they 
treated  you  as  a  visitor,  and  conducted  them- 
selves with  the  agreeable  familiarity  of 
friends.  Of  course  they  presented  their  bill 
when  you  were  about  to  leave  them,  but  in 


BERGEN.  43 

all  other  respects  the  idea  of  a  hotel  was  ban- 
ished from  the  mind. 

"  Supper,"  cried  Temple,  on  entering  the 
house. 

"Ya,  ya"  (yes,  yes),  in  cheerful  tones 
from  two  of  Mme.  Sontoom's  daughters. 

Then  followed  a  violent  conversation  in 
the  Norse  language,  in  which  there  was 
much  that  was  puzzling  and  more  that  was 
amusing,  for  the  Norwegian  ladies  were 
talkative  and  inquisitive. 

Fred  Temple  had  studied  the  Norse  lan- 
guage for  three  months  before  setting  out 
on  this  voyage,  and,  being  a  good  linguist, 
he  understood  a  good  deal  of  what  was  said, 
and  could  make  his  own  wants  known  pretty 
well.  Grant  had  studied  the  language  also, 
but  not  for  so  long  a  time,  and,  being  an 
indifferent  linguist,  he  made  little  headway 
in  conversation.  As  for  Sam  Sorrel,  he 
had  no  talent   for  languages.     He  hated 


44  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

every  language  but  his  mother-tongue,  had 
not  studied  Norse  at  all,  and  did  not  intend 
to  do  so.  It  may  be  supposed,  therefore, 
that  he  was  dumb.  Far  from  it.  He  had 
picked  up  a  few  phrases  by  ear,  and  was  so 
fond  of  making  use  of  these,  and  of  twist- 
ing them  into  all  shapes  and  out  of  all 
shape  that  he  really  appeared  to  be  a  great 
talker  of  Norse,  although  in  reality  he  could 
scarcely  talk  at  all. 

Supper  consisted  of  coffee,  rolls,  eggs, 
"gamle  ost "  (old  cheese),  lobster,  and 
smoked  salmon.  The  viands  were  good, 
the  appetites  were  also  good,  so  the  supper 
went  off  admirably. 

"  Ver  so  goot,"  said  one  of  the  young  la- 
dies, handing  Mr.  Sorrel  a  plate  of  smoked 
salmon. 

"Tak,  tak"  (thanks,  thanks),  said  our 
artist,  accepting  the  salmon  and  beginning 
to  devour  it.     "  I  say,  what  d'ye  mean  by 


BERGEN.  45. 

*  ver  so  goot '  ?  You're  never  done  saying 
it.     What  does  it  mean  ?  " 

The  fair  waitress  laughed  and  bowed  po- 
litely, as  much  as  to  say,  "  I  don't  under- 
stand English." 

"Can  you  explain  it,  Fred?"  said  Sam.. 

"  Well,  yes,  I  can  give  you  a  sort  of  ex- 
planation," replied  Fred,  "  but  it  is  not  an 
easy  sentence  to  translate.  *  Ver  so  goot'  (an- 
other claw  of  that  lobster,  please;  thanks), 
'  ver  so  goot '  is  an  expression  that  seems  to 
me  capable  of  extension  and  distention.  It 
is  a  comfortable,  jovial,  rollicking  expres- 
sion, if  I  may  say  so.  I  cannot  think  of  a 
better  way  of  conveying  an  idea  of  its  mean- 
ing than  saying  that  it  is  a  compound  of  the 
phrases  *  be  so  good,'  *  by  your  leave,' '  good 
luck  to  you,'  *  go  it,  ye  cripples,'  and  *  that's 
your  sort.'  The  first  of  these,  '  be  so  good,' 
is  the  literal  translation.  The  others  are 
more  or  less  mixed  up  with  it.    You  may 


40  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

rely  on  it,  Sam,  that  when  a  Norwegian 
offers  you  anything  and  says  '  ver  so  goot,' 
he  means  you  well,  and  hopes  that  you  will 
make  yourself  comfortable." 

"You  don't  say  so,  Fred;  I'll  adopt  the 
phrase  from  this  hour." 

Accordingly  Sam  Sorrel  did  adopt  it,  and 
used  it  on  all  and  every  occasion,  without 
any  regard  to  its  appropriateness. 

Little  was  said  at  supper.  The  whole 
party  were  too  tired  to  converse. 

"  Now  for  bed,"  cried  Sam,  rising.  "  I 
say,  Fred,  what's  the  Norse  for  a  bed  ?  " 

"  Seng,"  replied  Fred. 

"  Seng !  what  a  remarkable  name.  Now- 
then,  my  good  girl,  ver  so  goot  will  you 
show  me  my  sengf  Good-night,  comrades, 
I'm  going  off  to — ha!  ha!  what  a  musical 
idea — to  seng." 

"  More  probably  to  snore,"  observed 
Grant. 


BERGEN.  47 

"  Oh,  Grant,"  said  Sam,  looking  back  and 
shaking  his  head,  "give  up  jesting.  It's 
bad  for  your  health;  fie!  for  shame!  Good- 
night." 

Norwegian  beds  are  wooden  boxes  about 
three  feet  wide  and  five  and  a  half  long.  I 
have  never  been  able  to  discover  why  it  is 
that  Norwegians  love  to  make  their  beds  as 
uncomfortable  as  possible.     Yet  so  it  is. 

Grant  had  a  room  to  himself.  Temple 
and  our  artist  were  shown  into  a  double- 
bedded  room. 

"  Is  that  a  bed?  "  said  Sam,  pointing  to 
a  red-painted  wooden  box  in  a  corner; 
"  why,  it's  too  short  even  for  me,  and  you 
know  I'm  not  a  giant." 

"Oh!  then  what  must  it  be  for  me?'^ 
groaned  Fred  Temple. 

On  close  examination  it  was  found  that 
each  bed  was  too  short  for  any  man  above 
five  feet  two,  and  further  that  there  was  a 


48  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

feather  bed  below  and  a  feather  bed  above, 
instead  of  blankets.  Thus  they  lay  that 
night  between  two  feather  beds,  which  made 
them  so  hot  that  it  was  impossibl  to  sleep  at 
first.  Sorrel,  being  short,  managed  to  lie 
diagonally  across  his  box,  but  Fred,  being 
long,  was  compelled  to  double  himself  up 
like  a  foot-rule.  However,  fatigue  at  last 
caused  them  to  slumber  in  spite  of  all  difficul- 
ties. In  the  morning  they  were  visited  by  ». 
ghost. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

A   GHOST  AND  A   CUSTOM — A   FISH-MARKET 
AND   A    NORSE    LOVER. 

There  was  no  night  in  Bergen  at  this 
time.  At  the  midnight  hour  there  was  light 
enough  to  see  to  read  the  smallest  print,  and 
at  an  early  hour  in  the  morning  this  sweet 
twilight  brightened  into  dawn. 

This  being  the  case,  Fred  Temple  was  not 
a  little  surprised  to  see  a  ghost  make  its  ap- 
pearance about  six  o'clock — for  ghosts  are 
famous  for  their  hatred  of  broad  daylight. 
Nevertheless,  there  it  was,  in  the  form  of  a 
woman.  What  else  could  it  be  but  a  ghost  ? 
for  no  woman  would  dare  to  enter  his  bed- 
room (so  he  thought)  without  knocking  at 
the  door. 

49 


5©  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

The  ghost  had  in  her  hand  a  tray  with  a 
cup  of  coffee  on  it.  Fred  watched  her  mo- 
tions with  intense  curiosity,  and  kept  per- 
fectly still,  pretending  to  be  asleep.  She 
went  straight  to  the  box  in  which  Sam  Sor- 
rel slept,  and,  going  down  on  her  knees, 
looked  earnestly  into  his  face.  As  our  art- 
ist's mouth  happened  to  be  wide  open,  it 
may  be  said  that  she  looked  down  his  throat. 
Presently  she  spoke  to  him  in  a  soft  whisper. 

"  Fill  de  have  caffef  "  (Will  you  have 
coffee?) 

A  loud  snore  was  the  reply. 

Again  she  spoke,  somewhat  louder: 
*'  Vill  de  have  caffe?  " 

A  snore  was  the  reply. 

Once,  more,  in  a  tone  which  would  not  be 
denied,  "  Vill  de  have  caffe?  " 

"  Eh !  hallo !  what !  dear  me !  yes — ^ah — 
thank  you — ver  so  goot,"  replied  Sam,  as 
he  awoke  and  gazed  in  wild  surprise  at  the 


A    GHOST    AND    A    CUSTOM.  5 1 

ghost,  who  was  none  other  than  the  female 
domestic  of  the  house,  who  had  brought  the 
visitors  a  cup  of  coffee  before  breakfast. 

Sam's  exclamations  were  wild  at  first,  and 
he  stared  like  a  maniac,  but  as  consciousness 
returned,  he  understood  his  position,  and 
being  naturally  a  modest  man,  he  hastily 
drew  on  his  night-cap  and  gathered  the  bed- 
ding round  his  shoulders.  Accepting  the 
coffee,  he  drank  it,  and  the  girl  crossed  the 
room  to  pay  similar  attentions  to  Fred 
Temple. 

This  presentation  of  a  cup  of  coffee  in  bed 
before  breakfast  is  a  custom  in  Norway,  and 
a  very  pleasant  custom  it  is,  too,  especially 
when  it  breaks  upon  you  unexpectedly  for 
the  first  time. 

"  Now  for  the  fish-market,  Sam,"  cried 
Fred,  leaping  out  of  bed  when  the  girl  had 
left  the  room. 

"  Who  cares  for  the  fish-market  ? "  said 


^9  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

Sam  testily,  as  he  turned  round  in  his  bed 
and  prepared  to  slumber. 

"  I  care  for  it,"  retorted  Fred,  "  and  so 
do  you,  old  boy,  only  you  are  lazy  this  morn- 
ing. Come,  get  up.  I  have  resolved  to 
spend  only  one  day  in  this  queer  old  city,  so 
you  must  not  let  drowsiness  rob  you  of  your 
opportunities  of  seeing  it.  The  fish-market, 
you  know,  is  famous.     Come,  get  up !  " 

Temple  enforced  his  advice  by  seizing  his 
companion  by  the  ankles  and  pulling  him  out 
of  bed.  Sam  grumbled,  but  submitted,  and 
in  a  short  time  they  were  ready  to  start. 

"  Hallo,  Grant ! "  cried  Fred,  as  they 
passed  his  door,  "  will  you  come  with  us  to 
ramble  over  the  town  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Grant,  in  a  deep  bass  voice. 

"Why?" 

"  Because  I  won't.' 

"  A  most  excellent  reason ;  one  much  in 
use  in  this  world,"  replied  Temple,  laugh- 


A   GHOST   AND   A   CUSTOM.  53 

ing.  "  By  the  way,  will  you  remember  to 
order  two  sheep  to  be  killed  for  our  voyage 
north?" 

"  Yes,"  in  a  sulky  tone  from  Grant. 
"  Now  mind,  I  trust  this  to  you." 
"  Go  away,  and  don't  bother." 
Thus  dismissed.  Temple  and  Sorrel  went 
out  and  sauntered  toward  the  fish-market. 

Now,  fish-markets  are  famous  all  the 
world  over  for  noise,  riot,  and  confusion. 
The  fish-market  of  Bergen  is  no  exception  to 
the  rule;  but  there  is  this  peculiarity  about 
it,  that  the  sellers  of  fish  are  all  men  and 
the  buyers  all  women;  moreover,  the  noise 
is  all  on  the  side  of  the  buyers.  The  scene 
of  the  market  is  the  pier,  alongside  of  which 
the  fishermen's  boats  are  ranged;  and  here 
the  fish  are  sold  direct  from  the  boats  by 
the  men  to  all  the  servant-girls  of  the  town, 
who  assemble  each  morning  to  purchase  the 
day's  dinner. 


54  CHASING    THE    SUN, 

The  men,  standing  in  the  boats,  are  con- 
siderably below  the  level  of  the  pier,  so  that 
they  have  to  look  up  at  the  girls,  who  look 
down  at  them  with  eager,  anxious  faces. 
The  men,  sure  that  their  fish  will  be  sold  in 
the  long  run,  are  quiet,  sedate,  silent.  The 
women,  anxious  to  get  good  bargains  and 
impatient  to  get  home,  bend  forward,  shout- 
ing, screaming,  and  flourishing  arms,  fists, 
and  umbrellas.  Everyone  carries  an  um- 
brella in  Bergen,  for  that  city  is  said  to  be 
the  rainiest  in  the  world.  Of  gay  colors  are 
these  umbrellas,  too.  Pink  and  sky-blue  are 
not  uncommon.  There  is  a  stout  iron  rail 
round  the  pier,  which  prevents  the  eager  fe- 
males from  tumbling  headlong  into  the 
boats.  Over  this  rail  they  lean  and  bar- 
gain. 

Fierce  were  the  pretty  blue  eyes  of  these 
Norse  females,  and  flushed  were  their  fair 
faces,  and  tremendous  was  the  flourishing 


A    GHOST    AND    A    CUSTOM.  55 

of  their  umbrellas  and  the  shaking  of  their 
fists,  at  the  time  when  Temple  and  Sorrel 
approached.  The  fishermen  were  used  to 
it;  they  only  smiled,  or  paid  no  attention 
whatever  to  the  noise.  And  what  was  all 
the  noise  about?     You  shall  hear. 

Look  at  yonder  flaxen-haired,  pretty- 
faced,  stoutish  little  girl,  leaning  so  far  over 
the  iron  rail  that  it  seems  her  desire  to  tum- 
ble over  it  and  plunge  into  the  arms  of  a 
rough  old  fisherman,  who  is  gazing  quietly 
up  at  her  with  a  sarcastic  smile.  He  has 
put  up  a  lot  of  fish  for  which  she  has  offered 
"  sex  (six)  skillings."  A  skilling  is  about 
equal  to  a  halfpenny.  He  thinks  this  too 
little,  but  he  won't  condescend  to  say  so. 
He  merely  pays  no  attention  to  the  girl's 
violent  entreaties.  The  language  of  the  girl 
bears  so  strong  a  resemblance  to  our  own 
that  it  scarcely  requires  translation. 

"  Fiskman,"  she  cries,  "  vill  du  have  otte 


56  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

skilling?"  (Will  you  have  eight  skill- 
ings?) 

No,  the  fiskman  won't  have  that;  it  is  not 
enough,  so  he  makes  no  reply,  bit  pretends 
to  be  washing  his  boat. 

"  Fiskman,  fiskman^  vill  du  have  ni  ?  '* 
(Will  you  have  nine?) 

Still  no  reply.  The  fisherman  turns  his 
back  on  the  market,  gazes  out  to  sea,  and 
begins  to  whistle. 

At  this  the  girl  becomes  furious.  She 
twirls  her  umbrella  in  the  air  desperately. 
If  that  umbrella  were  only  a  foot  longer  the 
fiskman's  head  would  certainly  feel  its 
weight. 

Presently  the  girl  forces  herself  to  become 
calm  and  deeply  earnest;  she  has  made  up 
her  mind  to  make  a  liberal  offer. 

"  Fiskman,  vill  du  have  ti  (ten)  skill- 
ings  ?  " 

The  fiskman,  who  wears  a  red  night-cap 


A   GHOST    AND    A   CUSTOM.  57 

with  a  tall  hat  on  the  top  of  it,  takes  off  his 
head-gear,  exposes  his  bald  pate  to  view, 
and  wipes  it  with  a  fishy  cotton  handker- 
chief; but  he  takes  no  notice  whatever  of  the 
girl,  who  now  becomes  mad — ^that  is  to  say, 
she  stamps,  glares,  shakes  her  pretty  little 
fist  at  the  hard-hearted  man,  and  gasps. 

Suddenly  she  becomes  reckless,  and  makes 
a  wild  offer  of  "  tolve  (twelve)  skillings." 

Ha !  the  mark  is  hit  at  last.  The  fiskman 
can  hold  out  no  longer.  Without  saying  a 
word,  he  turns  quietly  round  and  hands  up 
the  fish.  The  girl,  without  a  word,  stoops 
down  and  pays  for  them,  and  then  goes  off 
in  triumph,  for  her  energy  has  been  success- 
ful ;  she  has  got  the  fish  a  little  cheaper  than 
she  had  expected. 

Suppose  twenty  or  thirty  such  scenes  go- 
ing on  at  once,  and  you  have  a  faint  idea  of 
the  Bergen  fish-market. 

It  was  just  before  the  termination  of  the 


58  CHASING    THE    SUN. 

bargain  which  has  been  described  that  Fred 
Temple  and  Sam  Sorrel  arrived  on  the 
scene. 

The  artist  was  busy  with  his  sketch-book 
in  one  minute. 

"  Sam,"  said  Fred,  touching  his  friend's 
arm,  "  look  here;  sketch  me  yonder  girl,  like 
a  good  fellow." 

"  Which  girl;  the  one  with  a  nose?  " 

"  If  you  see  one  without  a  nose,"  retorted 
Fred,  "  I'll  be  glad  to  have  a  portrait  of  her, 
too." 

"  Nay,  but  really,  I  do  see  one  with  such 
a  long  red  nose  that " 

"Well,  well,"  interrupted  Fred  impa- 
tiently, "  it's  not  her.  Do  look  to  where  I 
am  pointing;  see,  the  stout,  pretty  little  wo- 
man who  is  talking  so  fiercely  to  that  fisher- 
man." 

"  Oh,  I  see !  "  exclaimed  Sam,  who  began 
to  take  her  portrait  without  delay. 


A   GHOST    AND    A    CUSTOM.  59 

Meanwhile  Fred  was  observant.  At  first 
he  was  much  amused  by  the  scene  before 
him,  and  continued  to  gaze  with  interest  at 
one  group  after  another.  In  a  short  time 
his  curiosity  was  awakened  by  a  handsome 
Norwegian  youth,  whose  gaze  was  fixed 
with  intense  earnestness  on  the  maiden 
whom  Sam  was  sketching.  When  the  girl 
had  concluded  her  bargain  and  gone  away, 
he  observed  that  the  youth,  who  appeared  to 
be  a  fisherman  from  his  dress,  went  after 
her. 

Without  well  knowing  what  he  did,  and 
without  any  very  definite  intentions,  Fred 
Temple  followed  them,  and  left  his  friend 
busy  with  his  pencil. 

The  Norwegian  youth  soon  overtook  the 
^irl,  who  at  once  received  him  with  a  bright 
smile,  and  held  out  her  hand.  The  two 
then  went  on  together,  turned  to  the  left, 
and  followed  a  winding  road  which  led  up 


60  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

the  side  of  the  mountain.  They  appeared  to 
converse  earnestly  as  they  went.  Fred  still 
followed  them,  but  in  a  few  minutes  they 
paused  in  front  of  a  small  white  house  with 
a  green  door,  so  he  was  now  compelled  to 
pass  them.  As  he  did  so  it  suddenly  oc- 
curred to  his  mind  that  he  was  acting  a 
mean,  contemptible  part  in  following  them 
thus.  He  blushed  as  he  thought  of  this,  and 
passed  quickly  forward,  intending  to  deny 
his  curiosity  and  take  a  ramble.  He  could 
not  help  observing,  however,  that  the  girl 
was  weeping,  and  that  the  youth  did  not 
look  happy  by  any  means. 

Having  gained  the  brow  of  an  eminence 
which  overlooked  the  city,  Fred  sat  down 
behind  a  rock  to  admire  the  beautiful 
scenery  and  to  ponder  on  what  he  had  seen. 

While  he  was  thus  engaged,  he  heard  the 
voices  of  two  men  who  approached  on  the 
other  side  of  the  rock  and  did  not  observe 


A    GHOST    AND    A    CUSTOM.  6l 

him.  They  talked  loudly  in  the  Norse  lan- 
guage. Fred  understood  enough  of  it  to 
make  out  their  meaning  pretty  well. 

"  I  tell  you  what  it  is,  Hans,"  said  one, 
"  give  her  up.  You  have  no  chance  of  gain- 
ing the  required  sum  for  many  years,  and 
it's  a  hard  case  to  keep  a  poor  girl  waiting. 
Give  her  up,  man,  and  don't  go  on  like  a 
silly,  love-sick  boy." 

"  Give  her  up !  "  cried  he  who  was  called 
Hans,  "  give  her  up !  Ah !  my  friend  Ole, 
I  did  not  expect  such  counsel  from  thee. 
But  I  tell  thee  flatly  I  will  not  give  her  up. 
She  loves  me;  I  love  her.  Sweet  Raneilda! 
nothing  but  death  shall  separate  us !  " 

"  A  very  pretty  sentiment,"  retorted  Ole, 
"  but,  pray,  what  do  you  mean  to  do  ?  " 

"  I  have  decided  that,"  replied  Hans,  "  I 
will  fish  all  winter  in  the  deep  sea,  and  all 
summer  I  will " 

"Well,  what  will  you?" 


62  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

"  Alas !  I  know  not.  Would  that  I  were 
a  pilot,  but  I  am  not." 

"  But  you  know  the  coast  as  well  as  any 
pilot,"  said  Ole. 

"  True,  but  who  would  trust  me — an  un- 
known boy  ?  "  replied  Hans  sadly. 

There  was  silence  for  a  few  minutes;  then 
Ole  said :  "  How  much  money  do  you  re- 
quire to  pay  for  your  father's  farm  and  set 
yourself  up  ?  " 

"  Two  hundred  dollars,"  answered  Hans. 

"  A  goodly  sum,"  said  Ole  despondingly. 
"  No,  no,  Hans;  give  her  up,  boy,  give  her 
up.  It  is  the  advice  of  an  oldish  man  and 
a  true  friend." 

"  It  is  the  advice  of  an  ass,"  retorted 
Hans  fiercely.  "  Gk),  my  true  friend-r- 
when  I  want  your  advice  I  will  ask  it." 

The  youth  flung  off  from  his  friend  and 
came  suddenly  on  Fred  Temple,  who  rose 
and  saluted  him. 


A   GHOST   AND   A   CUSTOM.  63 

"  This  is  a  splendid  city  of  yours,  Hans," 
said  he. 

"  You  know  my  name  and  you  speak 
Norse,"  exclaimed  the  youth  in  surprise. 

"  I  know  your  name,  Hans,  because  I 
heard  your  friend  mention  it,  and  I  can 
speak  a  little  Norse  because  I  have  studied 
it.  I  have  come  to  stay  in  Old  Norway  for 
a  few  months,  and  would  like  to  get  a  little 
information  about  it  from  someone.  Are 
you  a  busy  man  just  now  ?  " 

"  No,  not  very  busy,"  said  Hans,  with  a 
disconcerted  look. 

"  Then,  could  you  call  on  me  this  after- 
noon?    I  live  in  Mme.  Sontoom's  house." 

"  I  will  come,"  said  Hans,  whose  face 
beamed  with  good-humor. 

"  Good,  I  shall  expect  you :  farewell." 

"  Farvel,"  replied  Hans. 

Fred  sauntered  down  the  hill  that  morn- 
ing with  a  very  peculiar  smile  on  his  coun- 


64  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

tenance.  There  was  something  quite  sly 
about  his  aspect,  and  more  than  once  his 
companions  caught  him  chuckling  at  break- 
fast in  a  way  that  surprised  them  much,  for 
Fred  Temple  was  not  given  to  secrets,  or  to 
act  in  an  outrageous  manner  without  any 
apparent  reason.  But  Fred  had  his  own 
peculiar  thoughts  that  morning,  and  they 
tickled  him  to  such  an  extent  that  more  than 
once  he  burst  into  a  fit  of  laughter. 

"  Come,  Fred,  you're  meditating  some- 
thing. Out  with  it,"  said  Grant.  "  It  is 
selfish  to  keep  all  your  good  thoughts  to 
yourself." 

"  Not  yet,  not  yet,"  replied  Fred,  with  a 
mysterious  look.  "  You  shall  know  before 
our  excursion  comes  to  an  end." 

Further  conservation  was  interrupted  by 
the  entrance  of  Hans  Ericsson,  who  was 
impatient  to  get  employment  of  any  kind  in 
order  to  earn  a  few  dollars,  and  lay  them  up 


A    GHOST    AND    A    CUSTOM.  65 

with  a  view  to  the  future.  Fred  took  him 
aside  and  said  in  a  low  tone : 

"  Hans,  are  you  very  anxious  to  wed  Ra- 
neilda?" 

The  young  Norseman's  face  flushed,  and 
he  started  as  if  he  had  received  a  blow. 

"  Don't  be  angry,  Hans,"  continued  Fred; 
"  I  ask  the  question  because  I  think  I  can 
help  you  in  the  matter,  if  you  will  allow  me. 
I  do  not  ask  it  out  of  idle  curiosity.  Come, 
tell  me  your  troubles  like  a  good  fellow,  and 
I'll  put  you  in  the  way  of  getting  out  of 
them." 

Hans  was  inclined  to  repel  Fred's  kind  in- 
tentions at  first,  but  the  Englishman's  open, 
honest  manner  won  upon  him  so  much  that 
he  related  to  him  all  his  sorrows. 

He  was  the  son  of  Eric,  who  dwelt  in  a 
valley  at  the  head  of  the  Nord  Fiord.  His 
father  was  too  old  to  manage  his  farm,  and 
Hans  wished  to  take  it  up  and  work  it  on  his 


66  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

own  account.  But,  in  order  to  do  so,  he 
must  buy  up  the  shares  of  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  family.  This  would  require  five 
hundred  doUars.  He  had  worked  hard  for 
two  years  to  make  this  sum,  but  there  was 
still  two  hundred  dollars  to  pay.  He  could 
make  this  in  the  course  of  time,  but  he  had 
been  engaged  to  Raneilda  long,  and  he 
wished  now  to  make  her  his  wife.  In  short, 
he  was  tired  of  waiting. 

"  So,  then,  you  would  be  glad  to  get  some 
sort  of  work,  with  good  pay?"  said  Fred. 

"  Ya,"  said  Hans,  with  a  nod  of  the  head. 

"  Can  you  pilot  a  schooner  from  this  to 
the  Nord  Fiord?" 

"  Ya,  I  know  every  island  on  the  coast." 

"  Good,  then  be  ready  to  start  this  even- 
ing. I  shall  send  my  vessel  there  in  your 
charge,  and  I,  myself,  with  my  friends,  will 
travel  over  land  and  meet  you  there.  Fare- 
well." 


A    GHOST    AND    A    CUSTOM.  67 

Hans  went  off  to  tell  Raneilda,  his  hand- 
some face  beaming  with  joy. 

"  Now,"  said  Fred,  returning  to  his 
friends,  "  I  have  made  arrangements  with  a 
pilot  to  take  the  Snomfiake  round  to  the 
Nord  Fiord,  and  we  will  travel  overland  to 
the  same  place  and  meet  it.  The  journey 
will  be  a  very  charming  one  of  several  days, 
through  wild  magnificent  scenery.  By  the 
way,  Grant,  did  you  order  the  two  sheep  to 
be  killed  and  sent  aboard  immediately  ?  " 

"Of  course  I  did.  Have  I  not  always 
proved  myself  a  trustworthy  messenger  ?  I 
told  the  man,  in  my  best  Norse,  to  have  two 
*  kos  '  killed  without  delay." 

"Two  what?"  exclaimed  Fred,  with  a 
look  of  alarm. 

"  Two  kos,"  returned  Grant.  "  Did  you 
not  tell  me  that  ko  is  the  Norse  word  for  a 
sheep  ? " 

"Why,  as  I  live,  you  have  ordered  two 


68  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

COWS  to  be  killed.  Quick,  come  with  me  to 
the  butcher's." 

The  two  friends  rushed  out  of  the  house, 
and  reached  the  shop  of  the  man  of  meat 
just  in  time,  fortunately,  to  arrest  the  fatal 
blow.  The  order  was,  of  course,  counter- 
manded, and  they  were  thus  saved  the  neces- 
sity of  setting  up  a  butcher's  shop  in  Ber- 
gen to  get  rid  of  their  superabundant  beef. 

That  night  the  SnowHake  set  sail  for  the 
far  north,  and  next  morning  our  three  ad- 
venturers were  galloping  through  the  wilds 
of  Norway. 


CHAPTER  V. 

CARIOLE     TRAVELING MISERABLE     LODGING 

AND   POOR    FARE — NATIVE   PECULIARITIES 
A  NIGHT   BATTLE. 

As  I  am  now  about  to  drag  my  reader 
through  the  wild  interior  of  Norway,  let  me 
try  to  describe  it.  Don't  be  alarmed,  dear 
reader,  I  do  not  mean  to  be  tedious  on  this 
point,  but  I  candidly  confess  that  I  am  puz- 
zled as  to  how  I  should  begin.  Norway  is 
such  a  jumble  of  Nature's  elements,  per- 
haps a  jumbled  description  may  answer  the 
purpose  better  than  any  other.  Here  it  is 
then. 

Mountains,  and  crags,  and  gorges,  and 
rocks,  and  serried  ridges;  towering  peaks 
and  dark  ravines;   lakes,   and  fiords,   and 

6g 


7©  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

glens,  and  valleys;  pine  woods,  and  glaciers, 
streamlets,  rivulets,  rivers,  cascades,  water- 
falls, and  cataracts.  Add  to  this,  in  sum- 
mer, sweltering  heat  in  the  valleys  and  ever- 
lasting snow  and  ice  on  the  mountain-tops, 
with  sunlight  all  night  as  well  as  all  day — 
and  the  description  of  Norway  is  complete. 
No  arrangement  of  these  materials  is  neces- 
sary. Conceive  them  arranged  as  you  will, 
and,  no  matter  how  wild  your  fancy,  your 
conception  will  be  a  pretty  fair  idea  of  Nor- 
way. Toss  these  elements  into  some  cham- 
ber of  your  brain;  shake  them  well  up — 
don't  be  timid  about  it — then  look  at  the 
result,  and  you  will  behold  Norway. 

Having  said  thus  much  it  is  unnecessary 
to  say  more.  Rugged  grandeur  is  the  main 
feature  of  Norway. 

On  a  lovely  summer's  evening,  not  long 
after  the  departure  of  the  Snowflake  from 
Bergen,  our  three  travelers  found  themselves 


CARIOLE    TRAVELING.  J I 

trotting  through  a  wild  glen,  on  each  side  of 
which  rose  a  range  of  rugged  mountains, 
and  down  the  center  of  which  roared  a  small 
river.  The  glen  was  so  steep  and  the  bed 
of  the  torrent  so  broken  that  there  was  not 
a  spot  of  clear  water  in  its  whole  course. 
From  the  end  of  the  lake  out  of  which  it 
flowed,  to  the  head  of  the  fiord  or  firth  into 
which  it  ran,  the  river  was  one  boiling,  roar- 
ing mass  of  milk-white  foam. 

Fred  Temple  and  his  friends  traveled  in 
the  ordinary  vehicle  ef  the  country,  which  is 
called  a  cariole.  The  Norwegian  cariole 
holds  only  one  person,  and  the  driver  or  at- 
tendant sits  on  a  narrow  board  above  the 
axle-tree. 

Of  course  it  follows  that  each  traveler  in 
Norway  must  have  a  cariole  and  pony  to 
himself.  These  are  hired  very  cheaply, 
however.  You  can  travel  post  there  at  the 
rate  of  about  two  pence  a  mile.     Our  friends 


72  CHASING   THE   SUN. 

had  three  carioles  among  them,  three  ponies, 
and  three  drivers  or  "shooscarles,"  *  besides 
a  small  native  cart  to  carry  the  luggage. 

Their  drive  that  day,  and  indeed  every 
day  since  starting,  had  been  emphatically  up 
hill  and  down  dale.  It  was,  therefore,  im- 
possible to  cross  such  a  country  in  the  ordi- 
nary jog-trot  manner.  When  not  ascend- 
ing a  steep  hill,  they  were  necessarily  de- 
scending one;  for  the  level  parts  of  the  land 
are  few  and  far  between.  In  order,  there- 
fore, to  get  on  at  all  it  was  needful  to 
descend  the  hills  at  a  slapping  pace,  so  as  to 
make  up  for  time  lost  in  ascending  them. 

There  was  something  delightfully  wild  in 
this  mode  of  progressing,  which  gladdened 
the  hearts  of  our  travelers,  each  of  whom 
had  a  strong  dash  of  recklessness  in  his  com- 
position. There  was  a  little  danger,  too, 
connected  with  it,  which  made  it  all  the  more 

*  This  word  is  sp>elled  as  it  should  be  pronounced. 


CARIOLE   TRAVELING.  73 

attractive.  Frequently  the  roads  were  nar- 
row, and  they  wound  along  the  tops  of 
precipices,  over  which  a  false  step  might 
easily  have  hurled  them.  At  the  foot  of 
many  of  the  roads,  too,  there  were  sharp 
turns,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  intense  de- 
light to  Sam  Sorrel  to  try  how  fast  he  could 
gallop  down  and  take  the  turn  without  up- 
setting. 

The  Norwegian  ponies  are  usually  small 
and  cream-colored,  with  black  manes  and 
tails,  or  white  manes  and  tails ;  always,  from 
some  incomprehensible  reason,  with  manes 
and  tails  different  in  color  from  their  bodies. 
They  are  hardy,  active  animals,  and  they 
seem  to  take  positive  pleasure  in  the  rattling, 
neck-or-nothing  scamper  that  succeeds  each 
toilsome  ascent. 

The  shooscarle  is  usually  the  owner  of 
the  pony.  He  may  be  a  man  or  a  boy,  but 
whether  man  or  boy  he  almost  invariably 


74  CHASING   THE   SUN. 

wears  a  red  worsted  night-cap.  He  also 
wears  coarse,  home-spun  trousers,  im- 
mensely too  long  in  the  body,  and  a  waist- 
coat monstrously  too  short.  He  will  hold 
the  reins  and  drive,  if  you  choose,  but  most 
travelers  prefer  to  drive  themselves. 

During  the  journey  Fred  Temple  usually 
led  the  way.  Norman  Grant,  being  a  care- 
less, easy-going,  drowsy  fellow,  not  to  be 
trusted,  was  placed  in  the  middle,  and  Sam 
Sorrel  brought  up  the  rear.  Sam's  duty 
was  to  prevent  straggling  and  pick  up  stray 
articles  of  baggage. 

On  the  day  of  which  I  write,  the  three 
friends  had  traveled  far  and  were  very 
sleepy.  It  was  near  midnight  when  they 
came  to  a  steep  and  broken  part  of  the  road, 
which  ran  alongside  of  the  foaming  river  al- 
ready mentioned,  and,  turning  at  a  sharp 
angle,  crossed  it  by  means  of  a  rude  wooden 
bridge.      Notwithstanding  the  lateness  of 


CARIOLE    TRAVELING.  75 

the  hour,  the  sky  was  almost  as  bright  as 
noon. 

"  Mind  yourself  here,"  shouted  Fred, 
looking  back  at  Grant,  who  was  almost 
asleep. 

"Hallo!  oh,  all  right!"  cried  Grant, 
gathering  up  the  reins  and  attempting  to 
drive.  Fortunately  for  him  the  Norwegian 
ponies  need  no  driving.  They  are  trained 
to  look  after  themselves.  Fred  went  down 
the  hill  at  a  canter.  Grant  followed  at  a 
spanking  trot,  and  both  of  them  reached  the 
bridge,  and  made  the  turn  in  safety. 

Sam  Sorrel  was  some  distance  behind. 
Both  he  and  his  shooscarle  were  sitting  bolt 
upright,  more  than  half  asleep,  with  the 
reins  hanging  loose  on  the  pony's  back.  The 
first  thing  that  awakened  Sam  was  the  feel- 
ing of  going  down  hill  like  a  locomotive  en- 
gine. Rousing  himself,  he  seized  the  reins, 
and  tried  to  check  the  pony.     This  only  con- 


76  CHASING    THE   SUN, 

fused  it,  and  made  it  run  the  cariole  so  near 
to  the  edge  of  the  river  that  they  were  almost 
upset  into  it. 

When  Sam  became  fully  aware  of  his 
position  he  opened  his  eyes,  pursed  his  lips, 
and  prepared  for  "  squalls."  Not  being  a 
practiced  driver,  he  did  not  make  sufficient 
allowance  for  a  large  stone  which  had  fallen 
from  the  cliffs  and  lay  on  the  road.  He 
saw  what  was  coming,  and  gathered  himself 
up  for  a  smash;  but  the  tough  little  cariole 
took  it  as  an  Irish  hunter  takes  a  stone  wall. 
There  was  a  tremendous  crash.  Sam's 
teeth  came  together  with  a  snap,  and  the 
shooscarle  uttered  a  roar;  no  wonder,  poor 
fellow,  for  his  seat  being  over  the  axle  and 
having  no  spring  to  it,  the  shock  which  he 
received  must  have  been  absolutely  shock- 
ing. However,  they  got  over  that  without 
damage,  and  the  river  was  crossed  by  all 
three  in  safety. 


CARIOLE    TRAVELING.  Jf 

The  next  hill  they  came  to  was  a  still 
worse  one.  When  they  were  halfway  down, 
the  leader  came  to  a  sudden  halt;  Grant's 
cariole  almost  ran  over  it;  Sam  and  the 
luggage-cart  pulled  up  just  in  time,  and  so, 
from  front  to  rear,  they  were  jammed  ug 
into  the  smallest  space  they  could  occupy. 

"  Hallo!  what's  wrong?  "  shouted  Grant. 

"  Oh,  nothing;  only  a  trace  or  something 
broken,"  replied  Fred.  "  Mend  it  in  a 
minute." 

It  was  mended  in  a  minute,  and  away  they 
went  again  on  their  reckless  course  over  hill 
and  dale. 

The  mending  of  the  trace  was  a  simple 
affair.  The  harness  of  each  pony  consisted 
of  nothing  more  than  the  reins,  a  wooden 
collar,  and  a  wooden  saddle.  The  shafts 
were  fastened  to  the  collar  by  means  of  an 
iron  pin,  and  this  pin  was  secured  in  its 
place   by   a   green   withe   or   birch-bough 


78  CHASING    THE    SUN, 

twisted  in  a  peculiar  manner  so  as  to  resem- 
ble a  piece  of  rope.  This  was  the  only  part 
of  the  harness  that  could  break,  so  that  when 
an  accident  of  the  kind  occurred,  the  driver 
had  only  to  step  into  the  woods  and  cut  a 
new  one.  It  is  a  rough-and-ready  style  of 
thing,  but  well  suited  to  the  rough  country 
and  the  simple  people  of  Norway. 

Fred,  being  anxious  to  see  as  much  as 
possible,  had  compelled  his  guide  to  turn  out 
of  the  usual  highroad,  the  consequence  of 
which  was  that  he  soon  got  into  difficulties: 
for  although  each  shooscarle  knew  the  dis- 
trict through  which  they  were  passing,  they 
could  not  quite  understand  to  what  part  of 
the  country  this  peculiar  Englishman  was 
going.  This  is  not  surprising,  for  the  pe- 
culiar Englishman  was  not  quite  sure  of  thaf 
point  himself. 

On  this  particular  night  they  seemed  to 
have  got  quite  lost  among  the  hills.      At 


CARIOLE   TRAVELING.  79 

every  stage  of  ten  or  twelve  English  miles 
they  changed  horses  and  drivers.  The 
drivers  on  this  particular  stage  v^^ere  more 
stupid  than  usual,  or  Fred  Temple  v^^as  not 
so  bright.  Be  that  as  it  may,  about  mid- 
night they  arrived  at  a  gloomy,  savage  place, 
lying  deep  among  the  hills,  with  two  or  three 
wooden  huts,  so  poor  looking  and  so  dirty 
that  a  well-bred  dog  would  have  objected  to 
go  into  them.  Fred  pulled  up  when  he 
came  to  this  place,  and  Grant's  pony  pulled 
up  when  his  nose  touched  the  back  of  Fred's 
cart.  Grant  himself  and  his  man  were  sound 
asleep.  In  a  few  seconds  Sam  joined 
them. 

There  was  a  brilliant,  rosy  light  on  the 
mountain-tops,  but  this  came  down  in  a  sub- 
dued form  to  the  travelers  in  the  valley. 
The  place  scarcely  deserved  the  name  of  a 
valley.  It  was  more  of  a  gorge.  The  moun- 
tains rose  up  like  broken  walls  on  each  side 


So  CHASING   THE   SUN. 

until  they  seemed  to  pierce  the  sky.  If  you 
could  fancy  that  a  thunderbolt  had  split  the 
mountain  from  top  to  bottom  and  scattered 
great  masses  of  rock  all  over  the  gorge  thus 
formed,  you  would  have  an  idea  of  the  sort 
of  place  in  which  our  belated  travelers 
found  themselves.  Yet  even  here  there  were 
little  patches  of  cultivated  ground  behind 
rocks  and  in  out-of-the-way  corners,  where 
the  poor  inhabitants  cultivated  a  little  barley 
and  grass  for  their  cattle. 

It  was  a  lovely  calm  night.  Had  you 
been  there,  reader,  you  would  have  said  it 
was  day,  not  night.  There  was  no  sound 
to  break  the  deep  stillness  of  all  around  ex- 
cept the  murmur  of  many  cataracts  of  melted 
snow-water  that  poured  down  the  mountain 
sides  like  threads  of  silver  or  streams  of 
milk.  But  the  rush  of  these  was  so  mel- 
lowed by  distance  that  the  noise  was  soft 
and  agreeable. 


CARIOLE    TRAVELING.  8r 

"  I  say,  Fred,  this  will  never  do,"  said 
Fred  gravely. 

"  I  suppose  not,"  returned  Grant,  with  a 
yawn. 

"  What  say  you,  Sam — shall  we  go  on  ?  " 

"  I  think  so.  They  can  have  nothing  to 
give  us  in  such  miserable  huts  as  these  ex- 
cept grod,*  and  sour  milk,  and  dirty  beds." 

"  Perhaps  not  even  so  much  as  that,"  said 
Fred,  turning  to  his  driver.  "  How  far  is 
it,  my  man,  to  the  next  station?  " 

"  Ten  mileSj  sir." 

"  Hum;  shall  we  go  on,  comrades?  " 

"Go  on;  forward!"  cried  Grant  and 
Sorrel. 

So  on  they  went  as  before,  over  hill  and 
dale,  for  ten  miles,  which  poor  Sam  (who 
was  very  sleepy,  but  could  not  sleep  in  the 
cariole)  declared  were  much  more  like 
twenty  miles  than  ten. 

*  Barley-meal  porridge. 


82  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

The  sun  was  up,  and  the  birds  were  twit- 
tering when  they  reached  the  next  station. 
But  what  was  their  dismay  when  they  found 
that  it  was  poorer  and  more  miserable  than 
the  last.  It  lay  in  a  wilder  gorge,  and 
seemed  a  much  more  suitable  residence  for 
wolves  and  bears  than  for  human  beings. 
Indeed,  it  was  evident  that  the  savage  crea- 
tures referred  to  did  favor  that  region  with 
their  presence,  for  the  skin  of  a  wolf  and  the 
skull  of  a  bear  were  found  hanging  on  the 
walls  of  the  first  hut  the  travelers  entered. 

The  people  of  this  hamlet  were  extremely 
poor  and  uncommonly  stupid.  Living  as 
they  did  in  an  unfrequented  district,  they 
seldom  or  never  saw  travelers,  and  when 
Fred  asked  for  something  to  eat  the  reply  he 
got  at  first  was  a  stare  of  astonishment. 

"  We  must  hunt  up  things  for  ourselves, 
I  see,"  cried  Sam  Sorrel,  beginning  to  search 
through  the  hut  for  victuals.     Seeing  this, 


CARIOLE    TRAVELING.  83 

the  people  assisted  him;  but  all  that  they 
could  produce  was  a  box  of  barley-meal  and 
two  large  flat  dishes  of  sour  milk. 

This  sour  milk  is  a  favorite  dish  with  the 
Norwegians.  During  summer  the  cattle  are 
sent  to  the  pastures  high  up  in  the  moun- 
tains, in  order  to  spare  the  small  quantity  of 
grass  grown  in  the  valleys,  which  is  made 
into  hay  and  stored  for  winter  use.  These 
mountain  pastures  are  called  sseters,  and  the 
milk  required  by  each  family  for  daily  use  is 
carried  down  from  the  sseter  by  the  girls. 
The  milk  is  put  into  round  flat  tubs,  vary- 
ing from  one  to  two  feet  in  diameter  and 
four  or  five  inches  deep.  It  is  then  allowed 
to  stand,  not  only  until  it  is  sour,  but  until 
it  is  thick  throughout,  like  curd,  with  a 
thick  coat  of  cream  on  the  top.  In  this 
form  it  is  eaten  with  a  spoon,  and  a  very 
pleasant  sight  it  is  to  behold  three  or  four 
sturdy  herdsmen,  and,  perchance,  one  or  two 


^4  CHASING    THE   SUK. 

boys,  squatting  round  one  of  these  large 
dishes,  and  supping  away  to  their  heart's 
content. 

Grant  seized  the  first  dish  of  milk  he  dis- 
covered, and  at  once  sat  down  on  a  stool 
-and  began  to  devour  it. 

"  Hold  on,  let  us  start  fair,"  cried  Sam 
Sorrel,  catching  up  a  spoon,  and  sitting 
down  opposite  his  comrade  on  another 
stool. 

The  hut  was  built  of  rough  logs,  and  the 
only  furniture  in  it  was  of  the  rudest  de- 
scription ;  a  couple  of  box-beds,  two  or  three 
stools,  and  a  bench,  a  gayly-painted  chest  in 
one  corner,  and  a  misshapen  table  were  all 
that  it  contained.  There  was  a  very  small 
door  at  one  side,  a  particularly  small  window 
at  the  other,  and  a  raised  stone  fireplace  at 
one  end. 

"  Well,  while  you  two  are  stuffing  your- 
selves with  sour  milk,  I'll  go  and  search  for 


CARIOLE   TRAVELING.  85 

better  fare,"  said  Fred,  with  a  laugh,  as  he 
left  the  hut. 

"  Good  luck  go  with  you,"  cried  Grant; 
"  a  bird  in  the  hand  is  worth  two  in  the 
bush.  Now  then,  old  boy,"  he  continued, 
turning  to  the  owner  of  the  hut,  "  could  your 
goodwife  make  us  a  little  porridge;  I  say, 
Sam,  what's  the  Norse  for  porridge  ?  " 

"  Grod,*  I  believe,"  said  Sam,  who  was 
still  busy  with  the  sour  milk. 

"Ah,  yes!  grod;  that's  it,"  said  Grant, 
turning  again  to  the  old  man;  "  grod,  grod; 
get  us  some  grod,  grod,  grod;  d'ye  under- 
stand?" 

"  Ya,  ya,"  answered  the  man.  It  would 
have  been  very  strange  if  he  had  not  under- 
stood, for  though  Grant  addressed  him  in 
English,  the  word  grod  bawled  so  frequently 
into  his  ear  was  sufficiently  comprehensible. 

A  fire  was  quickly  kindled  by  the  good- 

♦  Grod  is  pronounced  groot. 


86  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

wife,  a  pleasant-looking  elderly  woman;  and 
the  black  family-pot  was  soon  smoking. 
The  old  man  was  smoking,  too,  in  less  than 
five  minutes,  for  Grant,  in  the  fullness  of 
his  heart,  gave  him  a  pipe  and  a  lump 
of  tobacco. 

This  man  was  a  fine  specimen  of  a  hale 
old  Norseman.  He  wore  a  complete  suit  of 
brown  home»pun,  excepting  the  jacket, 
which  hung  on  a  rusty  nail  in  the  wall. 
Knee-breeches  and  worsted  stockings 
showed  that  even  in  declining  years  he  had  a 
good  pair  of  legs.  His  gray  hair  hung  in 
long,  straight  locks  over  his  shoulders,  and 
on  his  head  was  the  invariable  red  night-cap. 
The  only  weakness  for  finery  displayed  by 
this  old  hero  was  in  the  matter  of  buttons 
and  braces.  The  buttons  were  polished 
brass  of  enormous  size^  and  the  braces  were 
red.  These  were  displayed  to  great  ad- 
vantage in  consequence  of  a  space  of  full 


CARIOLE   TRAVELING.  87 

fpur  inches  intervening  between  the  bottom 
of  his  vest  and  the  waistband  of  his 
breeches. 

While  the  grod  was  being  made,  Fred 
Temple  put  up  his  fishing-rod  and  rambled 
away  in  search  of  a  stream.  He  had  not 
to  go  far.  In  about  five  minutes  he  found 
one  that  looked  tempting.  At  the  very  first 
cast  a  large  fish  rose  so  greedily  that  it 
leaped  quite  out  of  the  water  and  missed  the 
fly.  The  next  cast  the  fish  caught  the  fly 
and  Fred  caught  the  fish.  It  was  a  splendid 
yellow  trout  of  about  a  pound  weight.  In 
a  quarter  of  an  hour  Fred  had  three  such 
trout  in  the  pockets  of  his  shooting-coat;  in 
half  an  hour  more  the  three  fish  were  con- 
signed by  the  three  friends  to  the  region  of 
digestion. 

And  now  the  question  of  bed  had  to  be 
considered.  Grant  settled  it  as  far  as  he 
was  concerned  by  throwing  himself  down  on 


88  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

a  pile  of  brushwood  that  lay  in  a  corner, 
pillowing  his  head  on  a  three-legged  stool, 
and  going  off  to  sleep  at  once.  Fred  and 
Sam  looked  at  the  two  beds.  They  were  ex- 
tremely dirty,  and  it  was  evident  that  straw 
was  the  bedding. 

"  Come,  travelers  must  not  be  particu- 
lar," cried  Fred,  as  he  tumbled  into  his  box. 

"  I  couldn't  hold  my  eyes  open  five  min- 
utes longer  to  save  my  life,"  muttered  Sam, 
as  he  rolled  over  into  the  other. 

In  a  minute  the  three  friends  began  to 
breathe  heavily.  Two  minutes  more  and 
they  were  snoring,  a  trio  in  happy  forgetful- 
ness  of  all  their  toils. 

Now  it  must  be  told  that  this  pleasant 
state  of  things  did  not  last  long.  Fred  Tem- 
ple and  Sam  Sorrel  were  not  the  only  occu- 
pants of  these  beds.  Truth,  however,  dis- 
agreeable, must  be  revealed.  There  were 
living   creatures   which   not   only   slept   in 


CARIOLE    TRAVELING.  89 

those  beds,  but  which  dwelt  there  when  per- 
fectly wide  awake;  and  these  creatures 
waged  unceasing  war  with  every  human  be- 
ing that  lay  down  beside  them.  In  a  very 
short  time  the  sleepers  found  this  out.  Fred 
began  to  grow  restless  and  to  groan.  So 
did  Sam.  In  the  course  of  an  hour  or  so 
Fred  uttered  a  fierce  exclamation  and  rose 
on  his  hands  and  knees.  So  did  Sam, 
Then  Fred  and  Sam  began  to  fight — not 
with  each  other,  but — with  the  common 
enemy. 

The  battle  raged  for  more  than  an  hour, 
during  which  the  foe,  although  frequently 
routed,  returned  again  and  again  to  the 
charge.  Their  courage  and  determination 
were  tremendous.  It  cannot  be  said  that 
Fred  and  Sam  were  actually  put  to  flight, 
but  a  regard  for  truth  compels  me  to  state 
that  they  continued  Heaing  the  greater  part 
of  that  morning,  and  it  was  not  until  the 


9©  CHASING    THE    SUN. 

sun  was  high  in  the  heavens — pouring  down 
a  flood  of  light  into  that  wild  glen — that 
they  gained  the  victory,  and  lay  down  to 
repose  on  their  laurels  and  straw — not  to 
mention  the  bodies  of  the  dead  and  dying. 

They  hoped  now  to  be  rewarded  for  their 
exertions  with  a  few  hours'  repose.  Vain 
hope!  Scarcely  had  they  closed  their  eyes 
when  the  door  opened,  and  an  old  woman, 
with  nose  and  chin  of  the  nut-cracker  type, 
entered  the  room.  This  was  the  grand- 
mother of  the  family;  she  had  come  to  look 
at  the  strangers. 

Grant's  face,  with  the  eyes  shut  and  the 
mouth  wide  open,  was  the  first  object  that 
met  her  view.  She  bent  over  him,  and 
looked  into  his  mouth  as  if  anxious  to  ex- 
amine his  teeth.  Having  looked  him  over 
and  felt  the  quality  of  his  clothes  with  her 
shriveled  fingers,  she  turned  to  the  beds  and 
stared  at  the  other  strangers. 


CARIOLE   TRAVELING.  9 1 

Fred  had  gone  off  into  a  sort  of  doze,  so 
he  bore  the  inspection  well,  but  Sam  was 
only  pretending  to  sleep,  and  when  he  peeped 
up  at  the  old  face  that  looked  down  on  his 
with  kindly  interest  and  curiosity,  he  found 
it  difficult  to  check  a  smile. 

Having  looked  at  them  well  and  touched 
everything  belonging  to  them,  to  see  what 
it  could  be  made  of,  the  old  woman  moved 
quietly  toward  the  door.  She  shut  it  with 
a  bang,  however,  and  roused  them  up  with  a 
start — excepting  Grant,  who  slept  through 
everything,  and  in  spite  of  everything. 

They  were  just  dropping  off  again  when 
the  old  woman  returned.  She  had  for- 
gotten something,  and  was  moving  across 
the  floor,  when  she  accidentally  knocked  over 
a  bench,  which  upset  a  heavy  stool.  The 
crash  was  followed  by  a  scream  of  alarm, 
and  once  more  the  sleepers  were  awakened 
— always  excepting  Grant.      Scarcely  had 


92  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

this  happened  when  a  strange  sound  was 
heard  outside.  It  gradually  became  louder 
and  more  alarming. 

"  What  can  it  be  ?  "  cried  Fred,  leaping 
out  of  bed  and  rushing  to  the  door.  As  he 
threw  it  open  there  was  a  roar  like  the  sud- 
den discharge  of  artillery,  and  at  the  same 
moment  a  huge  mass  of  rock,  many  tons  in 
weight,  bounded  close  past  the  door,  went 
crashing  through  a  wooden  shed  as  if  it  had 
been  a  sheet  of  paper,  and,  carrying  shrubs 
and  small  trees  along  with  it,  finally  found 
a  resting-place  at  the  bottom  of  the  glen. 
The  huge  mass  had  fallen  from  tHe  cliffs 
above,  and  fortunately  swept  through  the 
hamlet  without  doing  further  damage.  It 
was  followed  by  a  shower  of  smaller  stones, 
some  of  which  struck  and  shook  the  house, 
and  produced  a  commotion  that  caused  even 
Grant  to  wake  up  and  run  out  in  alarm. 

The  whole  valley  was  covered  with  rocl^s 


CARIOLE   TRAVELING.  93 

of  every  shape  and  size,  which  had  at  vari- 
ous times  fallen  from  the  cliffs  on  either  side; 
and  one  could  not  look  at  them  without  won- 
dering that  the  little  cluster  of  huts  had  not 
long  ago  been  destroyed.  There  are  many 
such  scenes  in  Norway,  and  accidents  do 
sometimes  occur,  but  not  so  frequently  as 
one  might  expect. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  our  travelers  did 
not  again  court  sleep  in  that  wild  spot.  Be- 
fore another  hour  had  passed,  they  were 
over  the  mountains  and  far  away  on  their 
journey  to  the  far  north. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

DECEPTIVE    APPEARANCES PERPETUAL   DAY 

PERPLEXITIES    ABOUT    BED-TIME CON- 
FUSION   OF    MIND. 

The  scene  is  changed.  We  are  on  board 
the  SnowHake,  and  out  once  more  among 
the  thousands  of  islands  off  the  coast,  far 
beyond  the  Arctic  Circle  now. 

This  is  the  region  where  the  sun  does  not 
set  night  or  day  for  several  weeks  in  sum- 
mer, and  where  he  never  rises  night  or  day 
during  several  weeks  in  winter.  But  Fred 
Temple  has  not  gained  his  point  yet.  He 
is  behind  time.  Had  he  arrived  in  this  lati- 
tude a  week  sooner  he  would  have  seen  the 
sun  sweep  an  entire  circle  in  the  sky.  But 
calms  have  delayed  him,  and  now  the  sun 
just  dips  below  the  horizon  at  midnight.     A 


DECEPTIVE    APPEARANCES.  95 

good  stiff  southerly  breeze  of  a  few  hours 
would  take  him  far  enough  north;  but  he 
cannot  command  the  winds  to  blow,  al- 
though Bob  Bowie,  the  steward,  evidently 
thinks  he  can  make  it  blow  by  whistling. 
The  sea  is  like  a  sheet  of  glass.  Meanwhile 
Fred  and  his  friends  are  enjoying  all  the  de- 
light of  daylight  which  is  perpetual.  Every 
thoughtful  reader  will  at  once  perceive  that 
where  the  sun  only  sets  for  a  few  minutes, 
there  can  be  no  dimunition  of  the  light  worth 
speaking  of — nothing  approaching  even  to 
twilight.  The  night  before  the  arrival  of 
the  yacht  at  this  place,  the  sun  set  a  little 
after  midnight,  and  in  twenty  minutes  after- 
ward it  rose  again  to  pursue  its  brilliant 
course  through  the  northern  sky. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  for  a  Christian  to 
look  on  such  a  scene  without  recalling  those 
striking  passages  in  God's  Word,  which,  in 
describing  heaven,  tell  us  that  "  there  shall 


^6  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

be  no  night  there,"  and  speaks  of  a  ''  sea  of 
glass  like  unto  crystal,"  before  the  throne  of 
God.  Well  may  the  heart  of  man  in  such  a 
scene  exclaim  with  the  Psalmist,  "  O  Lord, 
how  manifold  are  thy  works!  in  wisdom 
hast  thou  made  them  all;  the  earth  is  full 
of  thy  riches." 

The  islands  in  this  particular  spot  were 
positively  uncountable.  They  lay  scattered 
over  the  calm  sea  in  hundreds.  Some  were 
no  bigger  than  a  boat,  others  were  tower- 
ing, jagged  mountains  more  than  four  thou- 
sand feet  high.  Most  of  them  were  barren, 
and  over  the  smaller  islets,  as  well  as  round 
the  cliffs  of  the  larger  ones,  myriads  of  gulls 
and  other  sea-birds  flew  with  clamorous 
cries.  But  for  this,  the  scene  would  have 
been  one  of  deep  solitude  as  well  as  intense 
<:almness.  The  sea-birds,  however,  filled 
the  air  with  life;  aye,  and  with  melody,  for 
the  plaintive  cry  of  wild-fowl,  when  mel- 


DECEPTIVE    APPEARANCES.  97 

lowed  by  distance,  is  inexpressibly  sweet  and 
agreeable. 

One  thing  that  puzzled  our  voyagers  very 
much  was  the  deceptive  appearance  of  land, 
so  that  they  found  it  extremely  difficult  to 
judge  correctly  of  distance.  On  one  occa- 
sion, when  sailing  toward  one  of  the  larger 
islands,  Fred  went  up  to  Bob  Bowie,  who 
was  leaning  over  the  side  watching  the  rip- 
ples caused  by  the  Snowiiake,  and  meditat- 
ing, as  he  himself  said,  "  on  things  in  gin'ral, 
and  nothin'  in  particular."  It  may  be  re- 
marked in  passing  that  this  was  not  an  un- 
common state  of  mind  with  Bob  Bowie. 

"  Well,  Bob,"  said  Temple,  "  we're  going 
along  nicely  with  this  breeze.  I  expect  we 
shall  pass  that  island  before  many  hours 
go  by." 

"How  far  d'ye  think  it's  off,  sir?"  in- 
quired the  steward. 

"  About  three  miles,"  said  Fred. 


98  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

"Three  miles,  sir?  W'y,  it's  not  more 
than  one  mile — if  it's  that." 

"  What  say  you,  captain  ?  "  asked  Fred. 

"  Ye  better  try,"  suggested  M'Nab,  with 
a  quiet  grin. 

"  So  I  will;  ho !  stand  by  to  heave  the  log, 
there.  Now,  captain,  steer  straight  as  the 
crow  flies  for  the  island." 

The  yacht's  course  was  altered,  the  log 
was  hove,  and,  observing  the  moment  of 
starting,  they  awaited  the  result.  Bob 
thought  it  was  a  smallish  island,  with  little 
bushes  on  it.  The  time  they  took  in  draw- 
ing near  to  it  at  first  led  him  to  doubt  the 
correctness  of  his  own  opinion.  But  when 
the  bushes  began  to  turn  into  trees,  and  the 
cliffs  to  tower  into  the  sky  above  his  head, 
and  throw  a  dark  shadow  over  the  vessel, 
he  was  obliged  to  give  in.  The  distance 
which  he  imagined  was  not  more  than  one 
mile  turned  out  to  be  five! 


DECEPTIVE   APPEARANCES.  99 

On  another  occasion  a  similar  case  of  the 
deceptive  appearance  of  distance  occurred. 
They  were  sailing  up  a  certain  fiord,  which 
most  of  the  people  on  board  supposed  was 
only  about  a  mile  broad.  One  of  the  sailors, 
Bill  by  name,  insisted  that  it  could  not  be 
more  than  three-quarters  of  a  mile;  and 
thereupon  an  animated  discussion,  amount- 
ing almost  to  a  dispute,  began.  But  Bill 
was  not  to  be  put  down.  "  He  was  an  old 
salt.  ■  He  wasn't  to  be  taken  in  by  these 
molehills,  not  he!"  He  had  sailed  round 
the  world,  according  to  his  own  account,  had 
been  shipwrecked  half  a  dozen  times,  and 
drowned  once  or  twice,  besides  being  mur- 
dered occasionally;  so  he  thought  himself  a 
weighty  authority,  and  entitled  to  great  re- 
spect. 

Well,  to  settle  this  point  the  yacht  was 
sailed  straight  across  the  fiord,  and  the 
breadth,  measured  by  the  log,  was  found. 


lOO  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

as  in  the  former  case,  to  be  about  five 
miles. 

The  calms,  although  frequent  in  this  lati- 
tude, did  not  last  long.  Light  breezes 
sprang  up  now  and  then,  and  for  several 
days  carried  our  travelers  to  the  north.  But 
not  fast  enough,  for  the  sun  still  kept  ahead 
of  them.  During  this  period  they  saw  great 
variety  of  scenery,  had  several  adventures, 
and  enjoyed  themselves  extremely. 

Fred  Temple  usually  began  each  calm  day 
by  jumping  out  of  bed,  rushing  upon  deck, 
and  going  over  the  side,  head  foremost,  into 
the  water.  He  was  generally  followed  by 
Sam  Sorrel;  but  Sam  was  inclined  to  be 
lazy,  and  did  not  always  follow  his  friend's 
lead.  Grant  never  followed  it.  He  was  in- 
veterately  lazy  in  the  morning,  although  at 
all  other  times  he  was  as  active  as  a  moun- 
tain goat. 

Our  Highlander  was  particularly  success- 


DECEPTIVE    APPEARANCES.  lOI 

ful  about  this  time  with  his  gun.  The  num- 
ber of  birds  that  he  shot  and  stuffed  was 
enormous.  Whenever  a  calm  prevailed  he 
took  the  light  little  Norse  boat  that  had 
been  purchased  at  Bergen,  and  went  off  to 
the  nearest  island  with  his  gun.  On  these 
occasions  he  was  usually  accompanied  by- 
Sam,  whose  love  for  sketching  was  quite 
equal  to  that  of  his  companion  for  bird- 
shooting  and  stuffing.  Fred,  of  course, 
went  to  keep  them  company,  and  was  wont 
to  carry  with  him  a  rod,  as  well  as  a  gun, 
for  he  was  passionately  fond  of  fishing.  On 
these  occasions,  too,  they  took  Hans  Erics- 
son with  them,  to  assist  in  rowing  and  to 
pilot  them  when  they  felt  inclined  to  leave 
the  yacht  out  of  sight  behind. 

One  day  they  were  out  on  an  excursion 
of  this  kind,  and  had  rowed  toward  the 
mainland  and  up  a  fiord.  Fred  and  Sam 
were  reclining  in  the  stern  of  the  boat;  the 


I02  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

former  smoking  a  meerschaum  pipe,  the 
latter  making  a  drawing  of  a  range  of  hills 
which  were  so  rugged  that  the  tops  appeared 
like  the  teeth  of  a  saw.  Grant  and  Hans 
were  rowing. 

"  Do  you  know  what  o'clock  it  was  when 
we  left  the  yacht?  "  inquired  Fred. 

"What  o'clock?"  echoed  Sam;  "no; 
well,  let  me  see.  We  went  to  bed  last  night 
at  five  o'clock  this  morning." 

"  You  mean  that  we  turned  in  for  our 
night's  rest  at  five  this  morning,  I  suppose,'* 
said  Temple. 

"  My  dear  Fred,"  retorted  Sam,  "  never 
mind  what  I  mean;  only  attend  to  what  I 
say.  Don't  be  too  particular.  It's  a  bad 
habit  being  too  particular.  I  once  had  a 
friend  who  was  too  particular  in  his  atten- 
tions to  a  young  lady,  and  the  result  was  that 
he  was  obliged  to  marry  her." 

"Then,    Sam,"    returned    Temple,    "I 


DECEPTIVE   APPEARANCES.  IO3 

should  say  that  the  habit  of  being  too  par- 
ticular is  a  good  one,  if  it  leads  to  such  a 
good  thing  as  marriage.  But  to  return  to 
the  point,  what  time  of  day  or  night  do  you 
think  it  is  now?  " 

"  Haven't  the  least  idea,"  said  Sam,  "  I 
think  it's  some  time  or  other  in  the  evening, 
but  this  perpetual  daylight  confuses  me. 
You  know  that  when  you  and  Grant  were 
away  last  week  after  the  gulls,  I  went  to 
bed  on  Thursday  forenoon  at  ten  o'clock  by 
mistake,  thinking  it  was  ten  at  night.  How 
I  ever  came  to  do  it  I  can't  tell,  but  I  sup- 
pose that  I  had  sat  so  long  stuffing  that  great 
eagle  for  Grant  that  my  brains  had  got  ob- 
fuscated. It  was  cloudy,  too  (not  unlike 
what  it  is  now),  so  that  I  could  not  see  the 
sun.  Whatever  was  the  cause,  there  is  no 
doubt  of  the  fact  that  I  lost  a  day  somehow, 
and  my  ideas  have  got  such  a  twist  that  I 
fear  they  will  never  recover  it." 


I04  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

"  A  most  unfortunate  state  of  things, 
truly,"  said  Fred,  laughing.  "  Perhaps 
you'll  recover  when  we  return  to  low  lati- 
tudes. If  not,  there  are  plenty  of  lunatic 
asylums.  But  we  must  not  spend  more  than 
a  few  hours  longer  on  this  excursion,  for 
I've  a  notion  that  we  are  somewhere  about 
Saturday  just  now,  and  you  know  it's 
against  our  rules  to  run  the  risk  of  shooting 
or  fishing  into  Sunday." 

"  Very  true,"  replied  Sam,  as  he  continued 
his  sketch.  "  I  say,  Grant,  do  you  happen 
to  have  your  watch  with  you  ?  " 

"  Not  I,"  cried  Grant,  from  the  bow  of 
the  boat.  "  Since  day  and  night  took  to 
being  the  same  I  let  it  run  down.  I  have 
no  regard  for  time  now." 

"  D'ye  know  what  day  it  is  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  Humph !  it's  lucky  that  we  can  depend 
upon  the  captain  for  keeping  us  right  in  re- 


DECEPTIVE    APPEARANCES.  IO5 

gard  to  Sunday.  Well,  let's  go  ashore  and 
try  the  mouth  of  yonder  stream.  I'll  war- 
rant me  there  are  sea-trout  there,  perhaps 
salmon,  and  the  ground  hereabouts  seems  a 
likely  place  for  grouse  and  ptarmigan. 
Pull  hard,  Hans,  thou  son  of  Eric,  and  shove 
the  boat  into  yonder  creek." 

Hans  Ericsson  bent  his  strong  back,  and 
a  bright  smile  crossed  his  sunburnt  face  as 
the  head  of  the  boat  flew  round. 

"  Hallo !  Hans,  steady,  my  lad !  "  cried 
Grant,  giving  his  oar  a  pull  that  sent  the 
head  of  the  boat  spinning  round  in  the  op- 
posite direction.  Then  the  sturdy  Norse- 
man and  the  stalwart  Scot  gave  a  pull  to- 
gether with  all  their  might,  and  sent  the 
boat  like  an  arrow  into  the  creek,  where,  in 
a  few  seconds,  her  keel  grated  on  the  shore. 

For  several  hours  after  that  the  three 
friends  were  busy  with  their  favorite  pur- 
suits.    Grant  soon  bagged  several  brace  of 


I06  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

grouse.  Fred  caught  a  basket  of  splendid 
sea-trout,  some  of  which  were  over  three 
pounds'  weight,  and  a  small  salmon  of  about 
ten  pounds;  while  Sam  Sorrel  sat  down  on 
a  rock,  and  painted  an  elaborate  picture  of 
the  scenery.  Of  course  their  different  oc- 
cupations separated  them  from  each  other, 
but  Hans  kept  close  to  Fred's  elbow;  for  he 
had  not  only  conceived  a  strong  friendship 
for  the  young  Englishman,  but  he  was  im- 
mensely delighted  with  fly-fishing,  which  he 
had  never  before  witnessed.  The  astonish- 
ment of  Hans  was  great  when  he  beheld 
heavy  trout  landed  by  means  of  a  slender  rod 
and  an  almost  invisible  line.  But  when 
Fred  hooked  the  salmon  the  excitement  of 
the  Norseman  knew  no  bounds.  After 
nearly  half  an  hour's  playing  of  the  fish, 
Fred  drew  it  close  to  the  bank,  and  told 
Hans  to  strike  the  gaff-hook  into  it  and  lift 
it  out  of  the  water.     Hans,  in  his  excite- 


DECEPTIVE    APPEARANCES.  I07 

ment,  missed  his  aim,  and  the  terrified  fish 
darted  away.  But  Fred  was  prepared  for 
this,  and  let  out  Hne.  Soon  he  brought 
his  fish  once  more  to  the  side,  exhausted  and 
roUing  over.  Hans  made  a  second  attempt,' 
and  was  successful  in  landing  the  silvery 
salmon  on  the  bank. 

When  they  returned  to  the  schooner  after 
that  excursion.  Captain  M'Nab  was  leaning 
over  the  side,  with  a  grim  smile  on  his 
wooden  countenance.  Bob  Bowie  was  be- 
side him,  with  a  beaming  smile  on  his  jolly 
red  face. 

"  Good-day,  captain,"  cried  Fred,  as  the 
boat  drew  near.  "  Well,  Bowie,  we're  des- 
perately hungry;  I  hope  you've  got  supper 
ready  for  us." 

"  I've  got  breakfast,  sir,"  replied  the 
steward. 

"  Eh  ?  ah !  well,  call  it  what  you  like,  only 
let  us  have  it  soon."     (They  clambered  up 


108  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

the  side. )  "  Why,  captain,  what  day  is  it, 
and  what  time  of  day  ?  " 

"  It's  Friday  mornin',  sir,  and  eight 
o'clock." 

Fred  opened  his  eyes  in  astonishment. 

"  Well,  then,  comrades,  it  seems  that  we 
have  been  shooting,  sketching,  and  fishing 
all  night  by  daylight,  and  the  sun  has  set 
and  risen  again  without  our  being  aware 
of  the  fact.  So  much  for  perpetual  day 
and  a  cloudy  sky.     Come,  Bob,  look  alive 

with  break Ah!  supper,  I  mean,  for 

whatever  it  may  be  to  you,  it  is  supper  to 
us.  Meanwhile  I'll  have  a  bath  to  refresh 
me. 

So  our  hardy  adventurers  bathed  that 
morning  over  the  side,  then  they  supped, 
after  which  they  turned  in  and  slept  all  day, 
and  rose  again  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening 
to  breakfast. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

A   SUNDAY   ON    SHORE. 

Only  once  during  their  voyage  along  the 
rugged  coast  of  Norway  did  our  three 
friends  go  to  church.  It  must  not  be  sup- 
posed, however,  that  therefore  they  were 
heathens.  Far  from  it.  Fred  and  his  com- 
panions were  truly  Christian  men.  That  is 
to  say,  they  not  only  called  themselves 
Christians,  but  they  made  it  their  earnest 
aim  to  walk  after  the  example  of  Christ,  and 
to  exhibit  their  Christianity  by  their  deeds. 
But  only  once  during  their  trip  had  they 
the  opportunity  of  visiting  a  church  on  a 
Sunday  forenoon  when  service  was  going 
on. 

It  happened  to  be  on  a  bright,  calm  Sun- 


no  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

day.  There  was  just  enough  of  wind  to 
urge  the  SnowHake  through  the  water  at  the 
rate  of  two  miles  an  hour.  Fred's  usual 
custom  was  to  get  to  a  secure  anchorage  on 
Saturday,  so  as  to  be  able  to  spend  the  Sab- 
bath as  a  day  of  rest.  But  this  was  not 
always  practicable,  because  the  water  was  so 
deep  close  in  shore  that  no  bottom  could  be 
found  in  many  places,  and  often  they  were 
obliged  to  continue  their  voyage  on  Sunday. 
This,  however,  was  a  matter  of  small  im- 
portance, because  the  working  of  the  yacht 
required  so  little  attention — especially  in  fine 
weather — that  it  did  not  interfere  with  the 
services  of  the  rest  of  the  day.  Fred  made 
a  point  of  assembling  the  crew  and  reading 
the  Church  of  England  service  every  Sun- 
day forenoon,  and  a  chapter  or  two  from 
the  Bible  in  the  evening. 

On  the  present  occasion  they  were  all  as- 
sembled on  the  quarter-deck,  joining  in  the 


A   SUNDAY   ON   SHORE.  Ill 

morning  service.  The  breeze  was  steady, 
and  the  steersman  was  the  only  man  on 
duty,  but  he  was  not  thereby  prevented  from 
attending  to  what  was  being  read.  The  ves- 
sel was  gliding  along  close  under  a  precipice 
which  towered  high  above  the  masts,  and, 
at  a  short  distance  ahead,  extended  out  in 
a  bold  promontory  or  headland.  Else- 
where mountainous  islands  hemmed  them  in. 

When  they  reached  the  promontory  Fred 
was  reading  that  beautiful  Psalm,  the  95th 
— which  appeared  somewhat  appropriate  to 
the  occasion. 

"  O  come  let  us  sing  unto  the  Lord;  let 
us  heartily  rejoice  in  the  strength  of  our 
salvation. 

"  Let  us  come  before  his  presence  with 
thanksgiving,  and  shew  ourselves  glad  in 
him  with  psalms. 

"  For  the  Lord  is  a  great  God,  and  a  great 
King  above  all  gods. 


112  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

"  In  his  hands  are  all  the  corners  of  the 
earth;  and  the  strength  of  the  hills  is  his 
also. 

"  The  sea  is  his,  and  he  made  it;  and  his 
hands  prepared  the  dry  land. 

"  O  come,  let  us  worship  and  fall  down; 
and  kneel  before  the  Lord  our  Maker." 

Fred  happened  to  look  up  at  the  last 
words,  and  an  exclamation  of  wonder  broke 
from  him  as  he  pointed  toward  the  shore. 
The  schooner  had  just  doubled  the  towering 
promontory,  and  a  new  scene  had  been  sud- 
denly opened  up  to  view. 

Just  beyond  the  promontory  the  coast  line 
took  an  abrupt  bend  to  the  right,  at  the  end 
of  which  was  a  sequestered  little  bay,  with  a 
beach  of  yellow  sand,  and  a  cluster  of  grassy 
mounds  behind  of  the  brightest  emerald 
green.  The  bay  and  the  green  mounds  and 
the  strip  of  yellow  sand  were  all  exceedingly 
small,  and  were  surrounded  by  a  mass  of 


A   SUNDAY   ON   SHORE.  II3 

rugged  rocks  of  a  cold,  whitish-gray  color. 
Beyond  these  were  the  great  purple  moun- 
tains of  the  mainland.  Ahead  and  in  front 
towered  the  islands  of  the  coast.  The  whole 
of  the  surrounding  scenery  was  wild, 
rugged,  and  barren.  This  one  little  spot 
alone  was  soft  and  lovely;  it  shone  out  like 
a  bright  jewel  from  its  dark  setting.  All 
round  the  bay  were  clustering  cottages 
with  white  walls  and  red  roofs — some  on 
the  sides  of  the  mounds,  others  perched  on 
rocks  that  projected  out  into  the  sea.  On 
the  highest  of  these  mounds  stood  a  church, 
and  in  the  floated  a  large  Norwegian  vessel 
and  numerous  small  boats. 

The  promontory  round  which  the  Snow- 
Hake  had  just  passed  completely  sheltered 
this  bay,  so  that  the  water  was  like  a  sheet 
of  glass,  in  which  everything — boats,  rocks, 
mounds,  cottages,  and  church — was  clearly 
reflected. 


114  CHASING    THE   SUN, 

The  church  bell  was  ringing.  It  was  a 
small  bell,  and  its  sweet  sound  came  float- 
ing softly  over  the  sea  to  the  ears  of  our 
voyagers  like  an  old  familiar  hymn.  The 
interest  of  this  scene  was  further  enhanced 
by  the  assembling  of  the  people  to  church. 
Boats  were  seen  pushing  off  from  every 
island,  issuing  from  every  creek,  rowing 
over  the  calm  water,  and  all  converging  to- 
ward the  little  bay  with  the  yellow  strand. 
Each  boat  was  crowded  with  men,  women, 
and  children;  and  as  the  men  wore  red  caps 
and  the  women  white  kerchiefs  on  their 
heads,  their  appearance  was  quite  brilliant. 
In  other  respects,  their  clothes  being  all 
homespun  and  of  one  dark  color,  their  as- 
pect was  somber  enough.  So  numerous 
were  the  boats,  and  so  suddenly  did  they 
make  their  appearance,  that  it  seemed  as  if 
the  land  were  being  invaded  by  a  foreign 
host. 


A    SUNDAY   ON    SHORE.  I15 

All  this  was  taken  in  at  a  glance  by  the 
yacht  party  as  they  doubled  the  promontory 
and  glided  into  the  bay. 

"  This  is  our  anchorage,"  said  the  cap- 
tain. 

"Very  well;  let  go  the  anchor,  and  we 
will  finish  the  service  after  it  is  down,"  said 
Temple,  rising  and  taking  up  the  telescope 
to  examine  the  groups  of  people  on  shore. 

As  each  boat  discharged  its  load  on  the 
little  stone  pier,  the  males  and  females  sep- 
arated into  two  distinct  bands  and  walked 
slowly  and  sedately  toward  the  church,  at 
the  door  of  which  the  whole  congregation 
assembled,  still  keeping  in  two  separate 
bands,  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  clergy- 
man. 

In  a  few  minutes  the  rattle  of  the  chain 
announced  that  the  anchor  was  down.  The 
sails  were  clewed  up  and  service  was 
continued. 


Il6  CHASING    THE    SUN. 

"Now,"  said  Fred,  when  he  had  con- 
cluded, "  lower  the  boat,  captain — I  will  go 
to  church.     Will  any  of  you  join  me?  " 

"  What's  the  use  of  my  going?  "  said  Sam 
Sorrel;  "  I  won't  understand  a  word." 

"  You're  not  sure  of  that,"  said  Grant. 
"  Beside,  it  is  so  long  since  we've  been  to 
church  that  I  feel  as  if  I  should  enjoy  it 
whether  I  understood  it  or  not." 

"  If  it  don't  do  you  no  good,  sir,  it  can't 
do  you  no  harm,"  urged  Bob  Bowie,  who 
was  evidently  anxious  to  get  ashore. 

"  Come  along,"  cried  Fred,  jumping  nto 
the  boat  and  taking  his  seat  in  the  stern- 
sheets. 

He  was  quickly  followed  by  his  compan- 
ions and  by  honest  Bob,  whose  delight  in  a 
ramble  on  shore  was  only  equaled  by  his 
love  for  a  voyage  on  the  sea. 

"Aint  it  an  'xtraor'nary  church,  sir?" 
said  Bob,  sidling  up  to  Temple  and  touching 


A   SUNDAY   ON    SHORE.  II7 

his  hat,  as  they  ascended  the  green  mound  on 
which  the  building  stood. 

"  It  is,  Bob;  most  remarkable,"  replied 
Fred. 

To  say  truth,  there  could  not  be  two  opin- 
ions on  this  point.  The  church  was  of  a 
very  peculiar  and  curious  form.  It  was 
more  like  a  number  of  dove-cots  placed  to- 
gether than  anything  else;  those  dove-cots, 
I  mean,  which  have  sloping  roofs,  and  are 
frequently  seen  nailed  against  the  sides  of 
houses  in  country  places.  Take  four  such 
dove-cots  and  place  them  back  to  back  so 
as  to  form  a  sort  of  square;  on  the  top  of 
these  place  three  more  dove-cots,  also  back 
to  back;  above  these  set  up  two  more  dove- 
cots, and  one  on  the  top  of  all,  with  a  short 
steeple  above  it,  and  a  spire  with  an  enor- 
mous weathercock  on  the  top  of  that,  and  the 
building  will  not  be  a  bad  model  of  a  Nor- 
wegian church,  especially  if  you  paint  the 


Il8  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

sides  white,  and  the  gabled  roofs  blackish- 
red. 

Inside,  this  church  was  found  to  be  ex- 
ceedingly plain,  but  very  clean.  The  pews 
and  galleries  and  walls  were  of  unpainted 
fir,  and  the  ceiling  was  whitewashed.  The 
entire  building  was  utterly  devoid  of  orna- 
ment except  round  the  altar,  above  which 
there  was  a  large  crucifix,  and  a  few  candles 
and  other  things  somewhat  resembling  those 
used  in  Roman  Catholic  worship. 

The  service  had  begun  some  time  before 
the  arrival  of  our  friends.  It  was  a 
Lutheran  church,  and  the  ceremonial  resem- 
bled that  of  the  English  Church  in  some 
respects;  that  of  the  Roman  Catholic  in 
others. 

The  entrance  of  so  many  strangers  of 
course  created  some  sensation,  even  al- 
though they  entered  as  quietly  as  possible 
and  sat  down  on  the  first  seats  they  found 


A   SUNDAY   ON   SHORE.  I19 

vacant.  The  people  seemed  to  have  native 
politeness  in  them.  They  could  not,  indeed, 
resist  the  temptation  to  look  round,  but  they 
did  it  modestly,  and  only  indulged  in 
glances,  as  if  they  felt  that  it  was  rude  to 
stare  at  strangers. 

Unfortunately,  Bob  Bowie  had  not  been 
warned  that  it  is  the  custom  in  Norway  for 
the  men  to  sit  together  on  one  side  of  the 
church  and  the  women  on  the  other  side, 
and,  being  rather  a  stupid  man  in  some  mat- 
ters, he  did  not  observe  that  the  door  by 
which  he  entered  led  to  the  women's  pews. 
Being  by  nature  a  modest  man,  he  cast  down 
his  eyes  on  entering,  and  did  not  again  raise 
them  until  he  found  himself  seated  beside  a 
Norwegian  female  in  a  black  gown  and  a 
white  head-dress,  with  a  baby  in  her  arms, 
which  also  wore  a  black  gown  and  a  white 
head-dress.  Bob  sat  with  a  solemn  look  on 
his  bluff  visage,  and  wiped  his  bald  fore- 


120  CHASING   THE   SUN. 

head  gently  for  some  time  ere  he  discovered 
that  he  was  the  only  male  being  in  the 
midst  of  a  crowd  of  two  hundred  women 
and  girls  and  female  infants. 

On  making  this  discovery  honest  Bob's 
body  became  exceedingly  warm  and  his  face 
uncommonly  red.  He  glanced  round  un- 
easily, blew  his  nose,  rose  suddenly,  and, 
putting  on  his  hat  with  the  back  to  the  front, 
went  out  of  the  church  on  tiptoe  as  quietly 
as  possible,  and  was  not  again  seen,  until, 
an  hour  afterward,  he  was  discovered  seated 
on  the  sunny  side  of  a  rock  near  the  boat, 
calmly  smoking  his  pipe. 

Bob  was  somewhat  ashamed  of  this  little 
adventure  and  did  not  like  to  have  it  spoken 
of.  As  a  matter  of  course  his  comrades  did 
not  spare  him;  but,  being  the  steward  of 
the  ship,  and  having  supreme  command  over 
the  food,  he  so  contrived  to  punish  his  mess- 
mates that  they  very  soon  gave  up  joking 


A    SUNDAY    ON   SHORE.  121 

him  about  his  going  to  church  with  the 
Norse  girls. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  any  of  the  three 
friends  made  much  of  the  sermon  that  day. 
Fred  understood  only  a  sentence  here  and 
there,  Grant  understood  only  a  word  now 
and  then,  and  Sam  Sorrel  understood  noth- 
ing at  all;  but  from  the  earnestness  of  the 
preacher,  especially  when  the  name  of  our 
Saviour  was  mentioned,  they  were  inclined 
to  believe  that  a  good  work  was  going  on 
there. 

In  this  opinion  they  were  farther  strength- 
ened when,  on  afterward  visiting  the  pastor, 
they  found  him  to  be  a  man  of  singularly 
kind  and  earnest  disposition,  with  agreeable 
and  unaffected  manners.  He  wore  a  long, 
loose  robe  of  black  inaterial,  and  a  thick 
white  frill  round  his  neck  similar  to  that 
usually  seen  in  the  portraits  of  the  great 
Reformer,  Martin  Luther. 


122  CHASING    THE    SUN. 

His  family  consisted  of  a  wife  and  four 
children — a  sturdy  boy  and  three  flaxen- 
haired  girls,  all  of  whom  vied  with  each 
other  in  paying  attention  to  their  visitors. 
Coffee  was  intantly  produced,  and  cakes, 
made  by  the  fair  fingers  of  the  goodwife. 
The  pastor  could  speak  a  little  French,  so 
that  his  visitors  were  able  to  converse  with 
him,  but  the  other  members  of  the  family 
could  speak  nothing  but  their  native  tongue. 
However,  this  did  not  prove  a  great  stum- 
bling-block, for,  while  Grant  talked  French 
with  the  pastor,  Fred  entertained  his  host- 
ess in  his  best  Norse,  and  Sam  Sorrel,  not 
to  be  behindhand,  got  the  children  round 
him,  and  made  such  wonderful  use  of  ver 
so  goot  and  his  other  pet  phrases  that  he  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  the  boy  on  his  knee  and 
in  setting  the  girls  off  into  giggles  of 
laughter. 

They  spent  that  Sunday  and  the  follow- 


A   SUNDAY   ON   SHORE.  1 23 

ing  Monday  at  this  pleasant  place,  and  were 
taken  by  the  pastor  all  over  his  house  and 
grounds  and  village,  after  which  he  con- 
ducted them  to  the  summit  of  a  mountain, 
whence  they  obtained  one  of  the  finest  views 
they  had  yet  seen  in  Norway. 

Here,  for  the  first  time  since  leaving  Eng- 
land, they  regarded  a  fair  wind  with  dis- 
favor; they  bade  adieu  to  the  pastor  and  his 
family  with  a  little  of  that  sad  feeling  which 
one  experiences  when  parting,  perhaps  for- 
ever, from  dear  friends. 

But  time  and  the  sun  would  not  wait. 
The  anchor  was  tripped,  the  sails  were 
spread;  in  half  an  hour  the  place  had  dwin- 
dled away  to  a  bright  green  spot  in  the  far 
distance;  then  they  rounded  the  beetling 
crags  of  an  island — ^and  it  vanished  from 
their  view. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

VISIT  TO  A   STRANGE  PEOPLE — THE   MID- 
NIGHT SUN. 

One  day  the  SnowHake  lay  becalmed  in 
one  of  those  long  narrow  fiords  by  which 
the  whole  of  the  west  coast  of  Norway  is  cut 
up,  and  some  of  which  extend  from  seventy 
to  a  hundred  miles  inland. 

There  was  no  prospect  of  a  breeze,  so  an- 
other boat  excursion  was  talked  of.  Hear- 
ing this,  Hans  Ericsson  informed  his  master 
that  there  was  a  small  settlement  of  Lap- 
landers about  thirty  miles  or  so  inland,  and 
that  he  would  be  very  glad  to  guide  him 
and  his  friends  to  it  if  they  chose. 

They  jumped  at  the  proposal  at  once,  and 


VISIT    TO    A    STRANGE   PEOPLE.  1 25 

in  less  than  half  an  hour  they  were  on  their 
way  to  it.  Bob  Bowie  also  went  on  this 
expedition. 

No  carioles  could  be  procured  in  that  wild 
region,  but,  at  a  poor  fishing  village  on  the 
coast  they  got  two  of  the  country  carts. 
These  are  small,  rough  machines,  with  a 
seat  on  wooden  springs.  They  can  hold 
only  two  persons  and  are  light  and  service- 
able, well-suited  to  the  rough  roads.  Fred 
and  Sam  led  the  way;  Grant  and  the  stew- 
ard followed.  Hans  acted  the  part  of 
shooscarle  to  the  former,  and  the  owner  of 
the  carts  drove  the  latter. 

The  first  start  was  up  the  side  of  a  hill 
at  least  two  thousand  feet,  and  the  road  was 
so  steep  that  it  was  all  that  the  ponies  could 
do  to  drag  up  the  empty  carts.  Having 
gained  the  top  of  the  first  hill,  they  came 
upon  a  level  plateau,  resembling  .the  blealc 
Scottish  moorlands,  which  terminated  in  a 


126  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

range  of  wild,  snow-capped  mountains. 
After  resting  the  ponies  a  few  minutes,  they 
set  off  at  a  brisk  trot,  and  were  soon  across 
the  level  ground.  Ascending  to  another 
plateau,  they  crossed  it,  and  finally  reached 
the  higher  mountain  range  of  the  interior. 
Here  they  crossed  several  patches  of  snow 
which  the  summer  heat  had  not  yet  been  able 
to  melt  away. 

As  soon  as  they  were  fairly  among  the 
mountains,  the  roads  became  horrible,  and  it 
was  a  matter  of  wonder  that  the  springs  of 
the  carts  were  not  broken.  Toiling  up  hills 
and  dashing  down  on  the  other  side — crash- 
ing over  fallen  rocks  and  shaving  the  edges 
of  yawning  gulfs  and  precipices — thus  they 
advanced  till  evening  through  a  country 
which  was  the  picture  of  barrenness  and 
(desolation. 

Rocks  were  the  chief  feature  of  the 
scenery.     They  had  got  to  such  a  height 


VISIT    TO    A    STRANGE   PEOPLE.  12  7 

above  the  level  of  the  sea  that  there  were  no 
pines — only  a  few  stunted  birch  trees. 
There  was  little  soil,  but  that  little  was  well 
clothed  with  vegetation.  Rocky  mountains, 
rocky  masses,  and  rocky  glens  everywhere; 
but  as  they  went  farther  inland  the  scenery 
improved  a  little. 

Soon  they  found  that  instead  of  traveling 
inland  they  had  been  only  crossing  one  of 
these  broad  necks  of  high  land  which  sep- 
arate the  fiords  of  Norway  from  each  other, 
and  ere  long  they  came  in  sight  of  the  sea, 
with  precipitous  mountains  dipping  into  it. 

Here,  on  a  green  slope  facing  the  fiord, 
were  seen  the  conical  tents  of  the  strange 
people  whom  they  had  traveled  so  far  to 
visit. 

The  inhabitants  of  Lapland  are  a  distinct 
race  from  their  southern  neighbors,  the  Nor- 
wegians, in  size,  intelligence,  civilization, 
and  manner  of  life.     They  are  as  near  as 


128  CHASING   THE   SUN. 

may  be  savages  in  appearance  and  in  some 
of  their  habits,  insomuch  that  on  first  visit- 
ing them  a  stranger  might  be  apt  to  set 
them  down  as  real  savages.  Yet  they  are 
many  degrees  higher  than  the  savage,  such 
as  the  Red  Indians  of  North  America.  The 
Lapp  is  as  dirty  as  the  Indian,  and  dwells  in 
as  poor  a  hut,  and  lives  in  as  simple  a  style; 
but  he  is  rich  in  property — ^his  property  be- 
ing herds  of  reindeer;  while  the  Indian  de- 
pends entirely  on  the  chase  for  wealth  and 
subsistence.  Then,  again,  although  the 
Lapp  has  nothing  worthy  of  the  name  of 
a  house,  he  is  an  educated  man,  to  a  small 
extent.  He  can  read,  and,  above  all,  he  pos- 
sesses the  Word  of  God  in  a  language  which 
he  understands. 

In  bodily  size,  however,  the  Red  Indian 
beats  him;  for  as  a  race  the  Lapps  are  par- 
ticularly small,  though  they  are  well  propor- 
tioned and  active. 


VISIT   TO    A    STRANGE   PEOPLE.  1 29 

iThey  are  seldom  visited  by  strangers;  and 
it  is  not  improbable  that  when  the  two  carts 
dashed  into  their  village,  our  friends  were 
the  first  Englishmen  that  they  had  ever 
seen. 

It  happened  to  rain  heavily  during  the 
last  part  of  the  journey  to  the  Lapp  village. 
To  the  surprise  and  amusement  of  the  trav- 
elers, Bob  Bowie  drew  forth  from  his  cart 
a  huge  red  cotton  umbrella  which  he  had 
purchased  at  Bergen,  and  which,  seeing  the 
sky  cloudy,  he  had  brought  with  him  in  the 
hope  that  he  might  have  occasion  to  use 
(that  is,  to  display)  it. 

The  rain,  however,  did  not  depress  the 
spirits  of  the  party  a  whit.  Nothing  in  the 
shape  of  water  could  dampen  their  enthusi- 
asm. 

If  anyone  wants  to  see  a  poor,  ragged, 
diminutive,  wizened,  yet  jolly  race  of  hu- 
man beings — a  race  of  beings  who  wear 


130  CHASING   THE   SUN. 

hairy  garments,  sup  reindeer's  milk  with 
wooden  spoons,  and  dwell  in  big  bee-hives — 
he  has  only  got  to  go  to  Lapland  and  see 
the  Lapps. 

Quitting  the  carts  at  the  outskirts  of  the 
village,  the  travelers  advanced  into  the  cen- 
ter of  it  just  as  the  natives  were  driving  a 
herd  of  reindeer  into  an  inclosure  to  be 
milked. 

There  could  not  have  been  fewer  than 
three  hundred  reindeer — stags,  does,  and  nu- 
merous fawns;  and  these,  they  afterwards 
learned,  constituted  the  entire  wealth  of 
three  families  of  Lapps. 

As  Fred  and  his  friends  strode  into  the 
inclosure  and  came  upon  these  good  people 
rather  suddenly,  their  amazement  was  un- 
speakable at  finding  they  had  bagged  a 
party  of  giants  along  with  their  deer.  Even 
scraggy  Sam  Sorrel  looked  quite  big  com- 
pared with  them. 


VISIT    TO    A    STRANGE    PEOPLE.  I3I 

After  the  first  gaze  and  shout  of  surprise, 
they  crowded  round  the  strangers,  and  they 
all — men,  women,  and  children — began  to 
eye  and  paw  them  over,  and  to  examine 
their  costume  with  deep  interest.  The  di- 
minutive size  of  the  Lapps  became  very  ap- 
parent as  they  were  thus  engaged.  None 
of  the  men  were  much,  if  at  all,  above  five 
feet,  several  were  considerably  under  that 
height,  and  the  women  were  short  in  pro- 
portion. 

If  the  bosoms  of  these  Lapps  were  small, 
their  hearts  must  certainly  have  been  very 
large,  for  they  received  their  visitors  with 
great  warmth  and  delight.  Altogether  they 
were  a  jovial  and  hearty,  though  uncom- 
monly ill-dressed  race  of  mortals. 

The  men  were  clothed  partly  in  deer-skin, 
partly  in  coarse  cloth,  and  these  garments 
were  reduced  by  long  service  to  a  uniform 
dirty-brown  color.     They  showed  signs  of 


132  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

being  slept  in  by  night  as  well  as  worn  by 
day. 

There  was  a  schoolmaster  among  them. 
Only  fancy,  a  Lapp  schoolmaster,  four  feet 
nine  or  ten  inches  high.  Sam  Sorrel  took 
a  sketch  of  this  gentleman  on  the  spot,  with 
his  wife  and  child.  What  the  schoolmaster 
taught,  or  whom  he  taught,  or  when  or 
where  he  taught,  were  questions  to  which 
Fred  could  obtain  no  answer.  To  look  at 
him,  one  would  have  imagined  that  eating, 
sleeping,  and  herding  reindeer  were  the  only 
lessons  he  was  able  to  teach.  Yet  it  was 
found,  on  inquiry,  that  some  of  them  could 
read  Norse;  and  Sam  actually  discovered  an 
old  man  in  one  of  the  huts  poring  over  a 
New  Testament  in  that  language.  There 
seemed  something  strangely  incongruous  in 
all  this.  They  were  dirty  and  uncouth,  they 
had  no  houses,  no  tables  or  chairs,  no  civ- 
ilized habits  of  any  kind;  yet  they  could 


VISIT   TO   A   STRANGE   PEOPLE.  I33 

read,  and  they  had  a  schoolmaster.  A  very 
dirty  one,  to  be  sure,  and  not  very  deeply 
learned,  I  daresay;  still  a  dominie,  without 
doubt.  On  the  strength  of  their  acquire- 
ments Fred  presented  the  tribe  with  a  Norse 
New  Testament. 

Besides  being  four  feet  ten,  the  school- 
master was  comical  and  quizzical.  He  was 
evidently  the  wit  of  his  tribe.  His  face  was 
yellow  and  dirty;  his  nose  was  short  and 
red,  in  addition  to  which  it  was  turned  up 
at  the  point;  his  eyes  were  small  and  sloped 
downward  at  the  inner  corners  toward  the 
nose  like  those  of  the  Chinese.  His  dirty 
leathern  tunic  was  belted  so  low  down  and 
his  little  legs  were  so  short  that  there  was 
considerably  more  of  him  above  the  belt  than 
below  it.  On  his  head  he  wore  a  cap,  some- 
what like  that  of  a  jockey  in  shape,  and  his 
lower  limbs  were  encased  in  tight,  but  ill- 
fitting  leggings.     Altogether,  this  man  was 


134  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

the  most  disreputable-looking  schoolmaster 
that  was  ever  seen  at  home  or  abroad. 

While  both  parties  were  making  acquaint- 
ance with  each  other,  the  rain  fell  more 
heavily. 

"  You'd  better  put  up  your  umbrella,  Bob 
Bowie,"  said  Fred. 

Bob,  who  had  forgotten  the  umbrella  in 
consequence  of  being  so  much  taken  up  with 
the  Lapps,  at  once  put  it  up.  Being  ex- 
tremely proud  of  this  curiosity,  he  was  glad 
of  the  opportunity  to  display  it.  A  shout  of 
surprise  and  delight  greeted  its  appearance- 
It  was  clear  that  the  Lapps  had  never  seen- 
one  before.  The  schoolmaster  at  once 
seized  it  out  of  Bob's  hand  and  strutted  about 
with  it  over  his  head,  to  the  inexpressible- 
joy  of  the  children,  who  ran  after  him  and 
crowded  round  him.  Undoubtedly  he  must 
have  been  a  kind  schoolmaster.  For  some 
time  the  earnest  attention  of  old  and  young 


VISIT    TO    A    STRANGE   PEOPLE.  1 35 

was  entirely  given  to  this  umbrella,  while 
they  tried  to  find  out  how  many  could  get 
under  it  at  once. 

The  costume  of  the  women  was  as  rude 
as  that  of  the  men.  The  schoolmaster's 
wife  wore  a  sort  of  cloth  helmet  and  a 
rough  yellow  cloth  gown,  which  was  not 
by  any  means  too  long.  Her  little  girl  wore 
a  tight-fitting  skullcap,  and  another  young- 
ster had  on  a  thing  much  too  large  for  it 
— like  a  huge  extinguisher — which  seemed 
to  be  its  father's  night-cap. 

They  were  extremely  ugly,  all  of  them, 
but  very  happy-looking  and  good-natured. 

Of  course  Fred  had  taken  a  few  trinkets 
with  him,  such  as  beads,  thimbles,  scissors, 
sugar-plums,  knives,  etc.;  and  as  everyone 
in  the  village  received  something,  the  whole 
place  soon  resounded  with  exclamations  of 
joy. 

Despite  the  rain,  Sam  Sorrel  pulled  out 


136  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

his  sketch-book  and  began  to  take  portraits. 
Here  was  another  source  of  wonder  to  the 
Lapps.  For  some  time  they  knew  not  what 
to  make  of  it,  but  crowded  round  Sam  with 
looks  of  inquisitive  surprise,  and,  getting  on 
tip-toe,  peeped  at  his  book.  When  one  or 
two  Hues  had  been  drawn,  exclamations  of 
interest  were  uttered  by  one  and  another; 
and  when,  in  a  few  minutes,  the  small  youth 
with  his  father's  extinguisher  on  his  head 
became  clearly  defined  on  the  paper,  there 
was  a  regular  burst  of  laughter. 

Sam  instantly  received  a  far  greater  num- 
ber of  "  orders "  than  he  could  execute. 
The  stout  little  woman  in  the  cloth  helmet 
placed  herself  in  an  attitude  which  was  no 
doubt  meant  to  be  irresistibly  attractive. 
Several  of  the  youngsters  plucked  the  artist 
by  the  sleeve,  and  thrust  forward  their  pert 
little  faces,  as  if  to  say,  "  Do  me ! "  or 
"  Here's  a  chance  for  you !  "  and  the  school- 


VISIT   TO    A    STRANGE   PEOPLE.  I37 

master,  promptly  clearing  a  space  in  front 
of  Sam,  placed  himself  in  an  attitude,  and 
by  his  commanding  look  ordered  him  to  be- 
gin at  once.  He  did  begin  on  the  spot  and 
finished  the  portrait  in  five  minutes — rather 
a  long  sitting,  considering  the  state  of  the 
weather  and  the  impatience  of  the  school- 
master to  see  himself  on  canvas. 

While  this  was  going  on  in  one  quarter, 
Bob  Bowie  had  attracted  round  him  a  circle 
of  warm  admirers,  whose  souls  he  captivated 
by  showing  and  explaining  to  them  the  in- 
terior of  his  watch.  As  the  lecture  was  de- 
livered in  English,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  the  audience  profited  much  by  means 
of  their  ears,  but  their  eyes  did  double  duty 
that  day;  at  least  one  might  reasonably  sup- 
pose so  from  the  immense  size  to  which  they 
were  constantly  expanded. 

They  evidently  did  not  know  whether  to 
regard  the  watch  as  a  mechanical  contriv- 


138  CHASING    THE    SUN. 

ance  or  a  living  creature.  In  the  study  of 
this  mysterious  thing  they  were  somewhat 
distracted  by  the  presence  of  their  first  love, 
the  umbrella,  which  the  lecturer  had  erected 
over  his  head  in  order  to  shield  his  time- 
piece from  the  rain.  Fred  and  Grant  went 
about  everywhere,  looking  at  everything, 
and  talking,  as  they  best  could,  to  every- 
body. 

Meanwhile  the  three  hundred  deer,  in  the 
midst  of  which  they  had  been  standing  all 
this  time,  kept  moving  about  the  inclosure, 
emitting  a  peculiar  grunting  sound  and  mak- 
ing a  strange  clicking  noise  with  their  an- 
kle-joints. This  is  a  well-known  peculiar- 
ity of  the  reindeer.  Every  time  they  lift 
or  set  down  their  feet  the  ankle-joints  crack 
as  do  the  knuckles  of  a  man  when  he  pulls 
his  fingers.  As  these  deer  were  constantly 
getting  up  and  lying  down,  the  twittering 
rattle  of  their  ankle-joints  was  unceasing. 


VISIT   TO    A   STRANGE   PEOPLE.  I39 

Presently  the  schoolmaster's  wife  took  a 
small  wooden  cup,  milked  one  of  the  does 
and  handed  the  proceeds  to  Fred.  He  was 
surprised  to  find  the  milk  as  thick  and  as 
pleasant  to  the  taste  as  the  richest  cream; 
and  he  was  still  more  surprised  to  be  told 
that  all  that  could  be  got  from  a  doe  at  any 
one  time  was  about  half  a  teacupful. 

The  deer  varied  in  color  from  dark  brown 
to  almost  white.  The  stags  stood  about 
three  feet  eight  inches  high  at  the  shoulder, 
and  the  antlers  were  about  three  feet  long, 
following  the  curve. 

Quitting  the  inclosure,  the  party  next 
visited  several  of  the  huts — which  were 
made  of  moss,  turf,  sticks,  etc.,  put  together 
in  such  a  confused  way  that  it  was  difficult 
to  make  out  how  they  had  been  formed.  A 
hole  in  the  side  was  the  only  door  to  each 
hut,  and  a  hole  in  the  top  was  the  window 
and  chimney.     In  one  of  these  they  found 


140  CHASING   THE   SUN. 

an  extremely  old  woman  seated  on  a  pile  of 
dirty  deer-skins.  Sam  Sorrel  said  he  was 
convinced  she  was  the  schoolmaster's  great- 
grandmother.  She  looked  like  a  living 
mummy,  so  small  and  wrinkled  and  brown 
and  dried  up  was  the  poor  old  body.  Yet 
she  was  lively  enough  to  show  signs  of 
pleasure  when  Fred  patted  her  back  gently 
and  presented  her  with  a  pair  of  scissors  and 
a  pair  of  worsted  gloves. 

It  was  a  late  hour  before  the  curiosity  of 
our  friends  was  satisfied;  the  sun  was  dip- 
ping low  on  the  horizon  when  at  last  they 
bid  adieu  to  the  Lapps,  and,  harnessing  their 
ponies,  set  out  on  the  return  journey.  The 
way  was  long  and  their  eyes  were  heavy. 
They  tried  by  means  of  conversation  and 
song  to  keep  themselves  awake,  but  were 
unsuccessful.  Despite  their  utmost  efforts 
their  heads  would  nod,  and  brief  little 
dreams  kept  perpetually  reminding  them  of 


VISIT   TO   A   STRANGE   PEOPLE.  141 

Laplanders,  dirty  little  schoolmasters,  and 
reindeer. 

Now,  while  Fred  was  nodding  in  his  cart 
and  trying  to  keep  awake  that  night,  he  little 
thought  that  he  was  so  nearly  attaining  the 
great  object  for  which  he  had  come  to  Nor- 
way. Yet  so  it  was.  They  came,  in  course 
of  time,  to  the  summit  of  a  ridge  f  r©m  which 
could  be  had  a  splendid  view  of  the  fiord, 
and  the  sea  with  its  thousands  of  islands  be- 
yond, and  the  SnowUake  floating  like  a  white 
speck  on  the  blue  water  far  below.  Here 
Hans  pulled  up  and  touched  Fred  on  the 
shoulder. 

"Well,  Hans,  anything  wrong?"  said 
Fred,  starting  and  looking  round. 

"  Sun  not  set  here,"  replied  Hans,  with  a 
grin. 

"  What?  "  cried  Fred,  jumping  out  of  the 
cart,  rubbing  his  eyes,  and  staring  at  the 
great  luminary  which  was  dipping  close  to 


142  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

the  sea.  "  Impossible !  we  are  not  yet  far 
enough  north.  You  must  be  mistaken, 
Hans." 

To  this  Hans  replied  that  he  was  not  mis- 
taken. That  he  had  been  on  that  same  spot 
at  the  same  time  of  the  year  long  ago,  and 
had  noticed  that  the  sun  had  not  descended 
below  the  horizon.  Pointing  to  the  sharp 
top  of  a  hill  that  rose  some  six  or  eight 
hundred  feet  close  beside  them,  he  said  that 
from  that  point  the  sun  would  be  seen  com- 
plete, while  from  the  place  where  they  then 
stood  the  slower  part  of  it  would  be  hid  be- 
low the  horizon. 

"Hallo!  Grant,  Sam,  d'ye  hear  that?" 
shouted  Fred,  with  enthusiasm.  "  We've  no 
time  to  lose;  quick,  follow!  " 

Away  Fred  Temple  went  up  the  moun- 
tain-side like  a  deer,  followed  by  Sam  and 
Grant,  who  having  been  more  than  half 
asleep   when   aroused   by   their   comrade's 


VISIT    TO    A    STRANGE   PEOPLE.  143, 

shout,  scarcely  knew  what  they  were  about. 
Even  Bob  Bowie's  spirit  was  stirred,  and 
he  went  stumbling  after  his  friends,  rubbing 
his  eyes  and  yawning  as  he  went. 

The  highest  peak  was  soon  reached.  Here 
they  sat  down  to  watch.  The  sun  was  close 
upon  the  horizon  now,  and  Fred's  heart  beat 
fast  with  anxiety  lest  it  should  descend 
below  it. 

"  There's  but  a  narrow  line  of  sky  between 
the  sea  and  the  lower  edge  of  the  sun  now," 
said  Fred.  "  It  looks  no  more  than  an  inch 
broad,  and  it  is  narrowing,  I  think." 

"  No,  it  is  growing  broader,"  said  Grant. 

"  No,  narrower,"  whispered  Sam. 

"  Broader  it  is !  "  said  Fred  eagerly. 

For  a  few  seconds  they  remained  uncer- 
tain and  silent,  gazing  earnestly  at  the  sun. 
At  last  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  it.  The 
line  of  sky  was  evidently  broader;  the  sun 
had  begun  to  rise  without  having  set. 


■144  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

"  Huzzah ! "  shouted  Fred  Temple, 
springing  up,  tossing  his  cap  into  the  air, 
and  cheering  as  enthusiastically  as  if  he  had 
just  discovered  a  new  gold-field.  Infected 
with  the  same  spirit,  the  others  joined  him, 
and  then  they  expended  their  energies  in 
building  a  cairn  of  stones  on  the  hill-top  to 
commemorate  the  event. 

"  Hans,  thou  son  of  Eric,"  said  Fred, 
grasping  the  hand  of  his  pilot  and  guide, 
when  this  was  finished.  "  I  like  thee,  man; 
thou  hast  done  me  good  service  this  day. 
But  for  thee,  I  should  have  missed  this 
chance,  so  I  consider  myself  thy  debtor,  lad. 
Mark  me  well,  I  will  discharge  this  debt 
when  we  return  to  the  south.  So  now,  let 
us  be  gone." 

How  Fred  discharged  this  debt  remains  to 
be  seen.  Meanwhile  the  party  descended 
the  hill  and  returned  once  more  to  their 
floating  home. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

MISCELLANEOUS   ADVENTURES — THE   VALUE 
OF   LANGUAGE SALMON-FISHING. 

The  main  object  of  the  voyage  having 
now  been  gained,  Fred  Temple  did  not  care 
to  push  northward  with  the  earnest  haste 
that  he  had  hitherto  exhibited.  He  did,  in- 
deed, avail  himself  of  a  fine  southerly  breeze 
which  sprang  up,  and  succeeded  in  reaching 
latitude  673^°,  where  he  saw  the  sun  all 
night  from  the  deck  of  his  little  yacht.  But 
he  devoted  himself  henceforth  to  enjoying 
the  country  fully. 

He  no  longer  sailed  against  baffling 
winds,  but  went  quite  contentedly  in  any 
direction  in  which  the  wind  chose  to  blow 
him.     The  consequence  was  that  he  visited 


146  CHASING    THE    SUN. 

many  curious  out-of-the-way  places,  and 
saw  many  strange  sights,  besides  having  a 
considerable  number  of  peculiar  adventures. 
The  week  following  that  in  which  he  first 
saw  the  sun  all  night,  was  particularly  full 
of  small  adventures.  Let  me  briefly  relate 
a  few. 

One  day,  having  left  the  schooner  be- 
calmed close  to  the  mainland,  they  took  the 
boat  and  rowed  toward  the  land.  While 
they  were  pulling  along  shore  under  a  tre- 
mendous cliff  that  rose  out  of  the  sea  like 
a  wall,  they  heard  voices  on  the  top  of  the 
cliff.  The  top  was  lined  with  bushes  so 
that  they  could  see  no  one,  but  the  sounds 
led  them  to  suppose  that  some  persons  were 
disputing  there.  Presently  a  crash  was 
heard,  and,  looking  up,  they  beheld  a  dark 
object  in  the  air.  They  had  just  time  to 
observe  that  this  object  was  a  pony  and 
cariole  which  had  evidently  fallen  from  the 


MISCELLANEOUS   ADVENTURES.  147 

top  of  the  cliff,  when  they  were  drenched 
with  spray,  and  a  mass  of  foam  indicated  the 
spot,  not  three  yards  off,  where  the  whole 
affair  had  disappeared  beneath  the  waves. 
In  a  few  seconds  the  pony  came  kicking  to 
the  surface.  It  had  broken  loose  from  the 
cariole,  and,  strange  to  say,  reached  the 
shore  unhurt  and  in  safety. 

Another  day  they  saw  a  whale.  It  may 
not,  perhaps,  have  occurred  to  many  people 
that  although  a  whale  is  a  very  well-known 
fish,  and  his  picture  extremely  familiar  to 
us,  the  sight  of  a  live  whale  about  six  or 
eight  yards  under  one's  feet  is  an  uncom- 
monly startling  and  impressive  vision.  Such 
a  sight  our  voyagers  saw  while  sailing  up 
the  Skars  Fiord. 

It  was  a  calm  day,  and  a  pleasant  day 
withal,  and  I  think  it  right  to  state  that  al- 
though they  did  at  times  grumble  at  pro- 
longed calms,  their  grumbling  was  more 


148  CHASING   THE   SUN. 

than  half  feigned;  while  their  gratitude  for 
good  weather,  bright  days,  not  to  mention 
nights,  and  pleasant  scenes,  was  sincere. 
But,  to  return  to  the  point,  it  was  a  calm  day 
and  they  were  doing  nothing — that  is,  noth- 
ing worthy  of  mention.  The  waters  of  the 
fiord  were  deep  and  blue  and  clear,  so  that, 
looking  over  the  side  of  the  yacht,  they  could 
see  very  far  down  in  reality — countless 
fathoms  in  imagination — into  the  mysteri- 
ous abyss. 

Presently  someone  cried,  "  Hollo !  look 
there!"  "Hollo!  look  wher^?"  inquired 
all  the  rest.  "  There,  close  astern,  it's  a — 
a " 

"Whale!"  shouted  the  whole  ship's  com- 
pany. 

That  it  really  was  a  whale,  and  a  big  one 
too,  became  very  apparent  three  minutes 
later,  for  it  thrust  a  great  blunt  nose,  like  the 
end  of  a  large  boat,  out  of  the  water,  and 


MISCELLANEOUS   ADVENTURES.  I49 

gave  a  prolonged  puff.  A  few  minutes  later 
and  the  nose  appeared  close  off  the  starboard 
bow,  then  it  came  up  not  far  from  the  lar- 
board quarter;  so  they  were  convinced  that 
the  creature  was  taking  a  survey  of  the 
yacht.  Perhaps  it  took  it  for  another  whale 
and  felt  inclined  to  be  social.  After  one  or 
two  circuits  it  drew  nearer,  and  at  last  the 
huge  fish  could  be  seen  as  if  in  the  depths  of 
a  bad  looking-glass,  swimming  round  and 
round  the  yacht,  ever  and  anon  coming  to 
the  surface  and  showing  the  whole  length 
and  depth  of  its  bulky  body. 

They  were  considerably  excited,  as  may 
be  supposed,  at  such  an  unexpected  visit  and 
the  near  approach  of  such  a  visitant.  As 
they  gazed  at  him  with  eager  eyes,  he  sud- 
denly turned  his  head  straight  toward  the 
side  of  the  vessel,  and,  sinking  down  suffi- 
ciently to  clear  the  keel,  dived  right  under 
it  and  came  up  on  the  other  side. 


ISO  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

So  clear  was  the  water,  and  so  near  was 
the  fish  to  the  surface,  that  they  saw  its  great 
fins  driving  it  along,  and  observed  its  com- 
paratively little  eyes  looking  inquisitively  up 
at  them.  On  clearing  the  yacht  he  came  to 
the  surface  not  more  than  thirty  yards  from 
the  side.  In  fact  he  had  shaved  it  as  near 
as  possible  without  actually  touching. 
"  Familiarity  breeds  contempt,"  saith  the 
proverb.  The  longer  this  whale  played 
round  them  the  more  did  he  exhibit  a  grow- 
ing tendency  to  play  with  them,  and  as  there 
was  no  saying  what  fancies  he  might  take 
into  his  great  head,  Fred  resolved  to  give 
him  a  shot. 

Accordingly,  the  rifle — a  double-barrel — 
was  brought  up,  and,  watching  his  oppor- 
tunity, Fred  put  two  leaden  balls  into  the 
back  of  his  head.  The  insulted  monster 
wisely  took  the  hint,  gave  a  final  flourish  of 
his  tail,  and  disappeared  forever. 


MISCELLANEOUS   ADVENTURES.  I51 

On  another  occasion  they  landed  at  the 
head  of  a  remote  fiord  where  the  natives 
seldom  had  the  chance  of  seeing  strangers, 
and  were,  therefore,  overjoyed  to  receive 
them.  Here  Sam  Sorrel  had  a  small  adven- 
ture. His  companions  had  left  him  to 
sketch.  While  thus  engaged,  a  fat,  hearty, 
good-natured  fellow  found  him  and  insisted 
on  his  paying  a  visit  to  his  cottage.  The 
houses  of  the  people  in  Norway,  generally, 
are  built  of  wood  and  are  roofed  with  red 
tiles;  floors,  walls,  ceilings,  tables,  chairs, 
beds,  etc.,  all  are  of  wood  and  are  usually 
unpainted.  They  have  iron  stoves  for  win- 
ter's use;  no  carpets  cover  the  floors,  and  no 
ornaments  grace  the  walls  save  one  or  two 
prints  and  a  number  of  large  tobacco-pipes; 
for  the  Norsemen  are  great  smokers  and 
chewers  of  tobacco. 

The  language  here  perplexed  our  artist 
not  a  little.     Being  a  lazy  student  he  had  left 


152  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

Fred  to  do  all  the  talking,  but  now  he  found 
himself  for  the  first  time  alone  with  a  Nor- 
wegian, fairly  left  to  his  own  resources. 
Well,  he  accompanied  his  fat  friend,  and  be- 
gan by  stringing  together  all  the  Norse  he 
knew  (which  wasn't  much)  and  endeavored 
to  look  as  if  he  knew  a  great  deal  more;  but 
his  speech  quickly  degenerated  into  sounds 
which  were  quite  unintelligible  either  to  his 
new  friend  or  himself;  at  last  he  terminated 
in  a  mixture  of  bad  Norse  and  broad  Scotch. 
Having  dwelt  many  years  in  Scotland,  Sam 
found  his  knowledge  of  Lowland  Scotch  to 
be  of  use;  for  there  is  great  similarity  be- 
tween it  and  the  Norwegian  tongue. 

For  instance,  they  call  a  cow  a  ko  or  a. 
coo.  Bring  me  meen  skoe  (I  spell  as  pro- 
nounced) is  bring  me  my  shoes.  Gae  til 
land,  is  go  ashore.  Tak  place  is  take  place, 
or  sit  down.  If  you  talk  of  bathing  they 
will  advise  you  to  dook  oonder,  and  should 


MISCELLANEOUS   ADVENTURES.  153 

a  mother  present  her  baby  to  you  she  will 
call  it  her  smook  ham,  her  pretty  bairn  or 
child;  smook  being  the  Norse  word  for 
pretty.  And  it  is  a  curious  fact,  worthy  of 
particular  note,  that  all  the  mothers  in  Nor- 
way think  their  bairns  smook,  very  smook! 
and  they  never  hesitate  to  tell  you  so;  why, 
I  cannot  imagine,  unless  it  be  that  if  you 
were  not  told,  you  would  not  be  likely  to 
find  it  out  for  yourself. 

Well,  Sam  and  his  fat  friend  soon  became 
very  amiable  on  this  system.  The  Norse- 
man told  him  no  end  of  stories,  of  which  he 
did  not  comprehend  a  sentence;  but  never- 
theless looked  as  if  he  did;  smiled,  nodded 
his  head,  and  said  "  Ya,  ya  "  (yes,  yes),  to 
which  the  other  replied  "  Ya,  ya,"  waving 
"his  arms,  slapping  his  breast,  and  rolling  his 
eyes  as  he  bustled  along  toward  his  dwell- 
ing. 

The  house  was  perched  on  a  rock  close  to 


154  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

the  water's  edge.  It  was  very  small,  quite 
like  a  bandbox  with  windows  in  it.  Here 
the  man  found  another  subject  to  rave  about 
and  dance  round,  in  the  shape  of  his  own 
baby,  a  soft,  smooth  copy  of  himself,  which 
lay  sleeping  like  a  Cupid  in  its  cradle.  The 
man  was  evidently  very  fond — perhaps  even 
proud — of  this  infant.  He  went  quite  into 
ecstasies  about  it,  now  gazing  into  its  chubby 
face  with  looks  of  pensive  admiration,  anon 
starting  and  looking  at  Sam  with  eager 
glance,  as  if  to  say,  "  Did  you  ever,  in  all 
your  life,  see  such  a  magnificent  cherub  ?  " 
His  enthusiasm  was  quite  catching.  Sam 
afterward  confessed  that  he  actually  began 
to  feel  quite  a  fatherly  interest  in  the  cherub. 

"  Oh !  "  cried  the  father,  in  rapture,  "  dat 
er  smook  barn  "  (that's  a  pretty  baby). 

"Ya,  ya,"  said  Sam,  "smook  barn," 
though  it  must  be  confessed  that  if  he  had 
called  it  a  smoked  bairn  he  would  have  been 


MISCELLANEOUS    ADVENTURES.  155 

nearer  the  mark,  for  it  was  as  brown  as  a 
red  herring. 

In  proof  of  his  admiration  of  this  baby 
our  artist  made  a  sketch  of  it  on  the  spot 
and  presented  it  to  the  delighted  father,  after 
which  he  was  introduced  to  the  Norseman's 
wife  and  treated  to  a  cup  of  coffee.  When 
Sam  returned  from  this  visit  he  told  his 
companions  that  he  was  quite  amazed  at 
having  got  on  so  well  with  the  language, 
and  was  warm  in  praise  of  his  host,  who, 
he  said,  laughed  more  heartily  than  any  man 
he  had  ever  met  with.  It  is  just  possible 
that  the  Norseman  may  have  had  more  occa- 
sion afforded  him  for  laughter  than  usual, 
for  Sam  had  waxed  very  talkative  and  had 
been  particularly  profuse  in  the  use  and 
abuse  of  his  pet  phrase,  ver  so  goot. 

Soon  after  this  the  yacht's  head  was 
turned  into  the  Nord  Fiord,  at  the  head  of 
which  dwelt  the  father  and  mother  of  Hans 


156  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

Ericsson.  Here  Hans,  to  his  unutterable 
delight,  found  the  fair  Raneilda  on  a  visit 
to  her  mother;  for  Raneilda  was  a  native  of 
that  remote  valley  and  had  gone  to  Bergen 
only  a  year  before  this  time. 

Here,  too,  Sam  Sorrel  found  splendid 
scenery  to  paint  and  Grant  obtained  numer- 
ous specimens  of  birds  for  his  museum. 

This  reminds  me,  by  the  way,  that  our 
naturalist,  who  was  amiable  and  eccentric, 
on  one  occasion  nearly  drove  his  comrades 
out  of  the  yacht.  One  day  he  shot  a  young 
unfledged  gull  or  puffin,  or  some  such  crea- 
ture, whose  brief  existence  had  only  con- 
ducted it  the  length  of  a  down  coat,  a  little 
round  body,  and  a  pair  of  tremendously  long 
legs.  Well,  this  object  was  laid  carefully 
away  in  a  spare  berth  of  the  yacht  in  which 
they  used  to  stow  away  all  manner  of  use- 
less articles — chairs  and  stools  that  had 
broken  their  legs,  etc. — and  which  went  by 


MISCELLANEOUS   ADVENTURES.  157 

the  name  of  the  infirmary  in  consequence. 
About  a  week  after  there  was  a  most  unac- 
countable smell  in  the  infirmary.  Several 
stuffed  birds  hanging  there  were  suspected 
and  smelt,  but  were  found  to  be  quite  fresh. 
One  or  two  of  them  were  put  out  to  air,  but 
still  the  smell  grew  worse  and  worse,  until 
the  most  obtuse  nose  did  not  dare  to  go  near 
the  infirmary.  At  last  they  became  des- 
perate. A  general  and  thorough  investiga- 
tion was  instituted,  and  there,  in  a  dark 
corner,  under  a  hair  mattress  and  flat  as  a 
pancake,  lay  the  poor  puffin,  alive — but  not 
with  the  life  wherewith  it  had  lived  before 
it  was  shot — and  emitting  an  odor  that  is 
indescribable;  a  description  of  which,  there- 
fore, would  be  quite  unprofitable.  The 
puffin  was  pitched  overboard,  and  it  was  half 
insinuated  that  they  ought  to  pitch  the 
naturalist  overboard  along  with  it. 

At  the  head  of  this  fiord,  also,  Fred  Tern- 


158  CHASING    THE   SUN, 

pie,  to  his  inexpressible  joy,  found  a  mighty 
river,  in  which  were  hundreds  of  salmon  that 
had  never  yet  been  tempted  by  the  angler 
with  gaudy  fly,  though  they  had  been  some- 
times wooed  by  the  natives  with  a  bunch  of 
worms  on  a  clumsy  cod-hook.  Thus  both 
Fred  and  Hans  found  themselves  in  an 
earthly  paradise.  The  number  of  splendid 
salmon  that  were  caught  here  in  a  couple  of 
weeks  was  wonderful,  not  to  mention  the 
risks  run  and  the  adventures.  Space  will 
only  permit  of  one  or  two  examples  being 
given. 

On  the  day  of  their  arrival  Fred  seized  his 
rod,  and,  taking  Hans  to  gaff  the  fish  and 
show  him  the  river,  sallied  forth,  accom- 
panied by  about  a  score  of  natives,  chiefly 
men  and  boys,  who  were  eager  to  see  the  new 
style  of  fishing.  They  soon  came  to  a  fine- 
looking  part  of  the  stream,  and  Fred  put 
together  his  rod.     He  was  much  amused  at 


MISCELLANEOUS   ADVENTURES.  159 

the  looks  of  the  men  when  they  saw  the  thin 
supple  point  of  the  rod.  They  shook  their 
heads  gravely,  and  said,  "  He  cannot  hold 
a  big  fish  with  that."  They  were  right  so 
far,  but  they  did  not  understand  the  use  of 
the  reel  and  running  line.  Presently  Fred 
cast,  and  almost  immediately  a  large  salmon 
took  his  fly;  the  rod  bent  like  a  hoop,  and 
the  reel  whizzed  furiously  as  the  line  ran 
out. 

Sam  Sorrel,  who  was  there  at  the  time, 
afterward  said  that  he  was  divided  between 
interest  in  the  movements  of  the  fish  and 
amusement  at  the  open  mouths  and  staring 
eyes  of  the  natives. 

This  fish  was  a  very  active  one;  it  dashed 
up,  down,  and  across  the  river  several  times, 
running  out  nearly  the  whole  of  the  line 
more  than  once,  and  compelling  Fred  to  take 
to  the  water  as  deep  as  his  waist.  At  last, 
after  a  fight  of  half  an  hour,  it  was  brought 


l6o  CHASING    THE    SUN, 

close  to  the  bank,  and  Hans  put  the  gaff-hook 
cleverly  into  its  side  and  hauled  it  ashore, 
amid  the  shouts  of  the  astonished  people; 
for  the  salmon  weighed  eighteen  pounds. 

After  a  time  the  natives  began  to  under- 
stand the  principles  of  fly-fishing  with  a 
slender  rod,  and  regarded  Fred  Temple  with 
deep  respect.  On  all  his  fishing  excursions 
in  that  fiord  he  was  attended  by  a  band  of 
eager  admirers,  to  whom  he  gave  most  of 
the  fish;  for  he  caught  so  many  of  all  sizes 
that  his  friends  and  his  crew  were  not  able 
to  eat  the  quarter  of  them.  The  catching 
of  his  largest  salmon  was  a  stirring  incident. 

It  happened  on  the  evening  of  a  very 
bright  day.  He  had  been  unfortunate. 
The  sun  being  too  bright,  the  fish  would  not 
rise.  This  annoyed  him  much,  because  on 
that  particular  day  he  had  been  accompanied 
by  the  captain  and  Bob  Bowie  as  well  as  his 
two  companions,  all  of  whom  were  anxious 


MISCELLANEOUS   ADVENTURES,  l6l 

to  see  him  catch  fish  and  learn  a  lesson  in 
the  art.  Fred  was  up  to  his  middle  in  a 
rough  part  of  the  river.  It  w^as  all  he  could 
do  to  retain  his  foothold,  the  water  was  so 
strong. 

"  It  won't  do,"  said  he,  "  the  sun  is  too 
bright." 

His  friends  on  the  shore  looked  grave  and 
disappointed. 

"  I  see  a  cloud  a-comin',"  said  Bob  Bowie, 
glancing  upward. 

"  Hallo !  hey !  "  shouted  Grant,  who  ob- 
served that  at  that  moment  Fred's  legs  had 
been  swept  from  under  him  and  he  was 
gone. 

Before  anyone  could  speak  or  act  Fred 
reappeared  a  little  farther  down  the  river, 
holding  tight  to  the  rod  and  staggering  into 
shallower  water. 

"  None  the  worse  of  it,"  cried  Fred,  burst- 
ing into  a  laugh. 


l63  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

Just  as  he  said  this,  and  while  he  was  pay- 
ing no  attention  to  his  rod,  a  salmon  rose 
and  seized  the  fly.  In  an  instant  Fred  and 
his  comrades  forgot  all  about  the  ducking, 
and  were  filled  with  the  excitement  of  the 
sport. 

Fred's  rod  bent  like  a  willow  wand.  His 
eyes  seemed  to  flash  and  his  lips  were  tightly 
pressed  together,  for  he  felt  that  he  had  on 
a  very  large  fish.  Suddenly  it  darted  up 
stream  and  did  what  the  large  fish  seldom 
do— leaped  quite  out  of  the  water, 

"A  whale!  stand  by!"  roared  out  Bob 
Bowie. 

There  was  a  cry  from  the  others,  for  at 
that  moment  the  salmon  set  off  down  stream 
— a  most  dangerous  proceeding  at  all  times. 
Fred  made  for  the  bank  and  let  out  line  as 
fast  as  possible.  When  he  gained  the  bank 
he  ran  down  the  stream,  leaping  over  bushes 
and  stones  like  a  wild  goat.     The  places  he 


MISCELLANEOUS   ADVENTURES.  163 

went  over  in  that  run  were  terribly  rugged. 
It  seemed  a  miracle  that  he  escaped  without 
broken  bones.  Presently  he  came  to  a  steep 
rock  that  projected  into  the  water.  There 
was  no  getting  round  it,  so  in  he  dashed. 
It  took  him  only  up  to  the  knees.  This 
passed,  he  came  to  another  place  of  the  same 
sort.  Here  he  put  a  strain  on  the  fish  and 
tried  to  stop  it.  But  it  was  not  to  be 
stopped.  It  had  clearly  made  up  its  mind 
to  go  right  down  to  the  sea.  Fred  looked  at 
the  pool,  hesitated  one  moment,  and  then 
leaped  in.  It  took  him  up  to  the  neck,  and 
he  was  carried  down  by  the  current  fifty 
yards  or  so,  when  his  feet  caught  bottom 
again  and  he  managed  to  raise  his  rod,  fully 
expecting  to  find  that  the  salmon  had  broken 
off.  But  it  was  still  on,  and  lively.  Mean- 
while his  comrades  on  the  bank  were  keep- 
ing pace  with  him,  shouting  and  yelling  with 
excitement  as  they  ran. 


f64  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

"  The  rapid !  mind  the  rapid !  "  roared 
Grant. 

Fred  saw  a  foaming  rapid  before  him. 
He  became  anxious.  It  was  dangerous  to 
venture  down  this.  If  he  should  touch  a 
rock  on  the  way  down  the  chances  were  that 
he  would  get  a  limb  broken.  The  banks 
here  were  so  thickly  covered  with  bushes 
that  it  was  impossible  to  pass.  The  fish  still 
held  on  its  headlong  course.  "  What  shall 
I  do?  "  thought  Fred.  "  If  I  stop  he  will 
break  all  to  pieces  and  I  shall  lose  him. 
Lose  him !  no,  never !  " 

"  Don't  venture  in,  Fred,"  shrieked  Sam 
Sorrel. 

But  the  advice  came  too  late.  Fred  was 
already  in  the  foaming  current.  In  a  mo- 
ment he  was  swept  down  into  the  compara- 
tively still  water  below  the  rapid.  His 
friends  lost  sight  of  him,  for  they  had  to 
run  round  through  the  bushes.     When  they 


MISCELLANEOUS    ADVENTURES.  165 

got  to  the  foot  of  the  rapid  they  found  Fred 
on  the  bank,  panting  violently  and  holding 
tight  to  the  rod,  for  the  salmon  had  stopped 
there  and  was  now  "  sulking  "  at  the  bot- 
tom of  a  deep  hole.  For  a  full  hour  did  the 
fisher  labor  to  pull  him  out  of  that  hole  in 
vain;  for  in  this  kind  of  fishing  nothing  can 
be  done  by  main  force.  The  great  beauty 
of  the  art  consists  in  getting  the  salmon  to 
move  and  in  humoring  his  movements,  so 
that  you  tire  him  out  and  get  him  gradually 
close  to  your  side. 

At  last  the  fish  came  out  of  the  deep  pool. 
Then  there  was  another  short  struggle  of  a 
quarter  of  an  hour,  and  the  fisher's  persever- 
ance and  skill  were  rewarded.  The  salmon 
at  last  turned  up  its  silvery  side.  Fred 
drew  it  slowly  to  the  bank  (in  breathless 
anxiety,  for  many  a  fish  is  lost  at  this  point). 
Hans  struck  the  gaff  in  neatly,  and  with  a 
huge  effort  flung  it  floundering  out  upon 


l66  CHASING    THE    SUN. 

the  bank,  amid  the  hearty  cheers  of  all 
present. 

This  salmon  weighed  thirty-four  pounds 
and  was  about  four  feet  long.  It  was  a 
magnificent  fish,  and  it  may  well  be  believed 
that  Fred  Temple  did  not  grudge  the  two 
hours'  battle  and  the  risk  that  he  had  run 
in  the  catching  of  it. 


CHAPTER  X. 

CONCLUSION. 

"  Sam  Sorrel,"  said  Fred  Temple,  one 
day  to  his  friend,  while  they  were  seated  at 
breakfast  in  the  house  of  a  farmer  of  the 
Nord  Fiord,  "  we  have  been  here  more  than 
a  fortnight  now;  we  have  enjoyed  ourselves 
much,  have  had  good  sport  of  various  kinds, 
and  have  laid  in  a  stock  of  health  and  wis- 
dom, it  is  to  be  hoped,  that  will  last  us  for 
some  time  to  come " 

"  That  sounds  very  much  like  the  begin- 
ning of  a  formal  speech,"  said  Grant. 

**  Hold    your    tongue,    Grant,"    retorted 

Temple,  "  I  have  not  yet  done.     As  I  have 

said,  we  have  been  successful  in  gaining  the 

ends  for  which  we  came  here.    We  have  seen 
167 


l68  CHASING    THE    SUN. 

the  sun  rise  without  setting,  Sam  Sorrel  has 
filled  a  large  portfolio  with  beautiful  sketches 
of,  perhaps,  the  finest  scenery  in  Europe. 
Grant  has  shot  and  stuffed,  I  am  afraid  to 
say  how  many  birds  of  all  kinds,  besides 
making  a  large  collection  of  rare  plants;  and 
Fred  Temple  has  caught  about  five  hundred 
pounds'  weight  of  salmon — not  to  mention 
hundreds  of  trout " 

"  Good,"  said  Sam,  "  and  very  correctly 
stated.  You  are  fit  for  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, my  friend." 

"  Sam,  be  silent.  Now,  this  being  the 
case,  it  is  time  that  we  should  think  of  re- 
turning to  our  native  land.  I  will,  there- 
fore, make  arrangements  for  setting  sail  in 
two  or  three  days.  But  before  leaving  I 
will  bring  to  a  point  a  little  plot  which  I 
have  been  hatching  ever  since  I  landed  in 
Norway.  I  won't  tell  you  what  it  is  just 
yet,  but  I  must  have  your  help,  Sam." 


CONCLUSION.  169 

"  Command  my  services,  sir,"  said  Sam. 
with  a  wave  of  his  hand.  "  I  am  your 
servant,  your  Eastern  slave,  ready,  if  need 
be,  to  prostrate  myself  in  the  earth,  and  rub 
my  nose  in  the  dust." 

"  Good.  I  accept  your  offer,"  said  Fred, 
"  and  my  first  command  is,  that  you  take 
your  brushes  and  paint  me  a  Norwegian 
bride  in  the  course  of  this  forenoon." 

"  Why,  your  orders  cannot  be  obeyed," 
cried  Sam,  in  surprise.  "  Where  am  I  to 
find  a  bride  on  such  short  notice?  You  are 
more  unreasonable  than  the  most  tyrannical 
of  sultans." 

"  Nevertheless,"  replied  Fred  calmly,  "  I 
issue  my  commands,  and,  in  order  to  relieve 
your  mind  of  anxiety,  I  will  find  a  bride  for 
you." 

"  Where,  then,  is  this  bride,  O  wizard  ?  " 
asked  Sam,  with  a  laugh. 

"  Behold  her !  "  cried  Fred,  starting  up 


lyo  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

and  throwing  open  the  door,  from  whicH 
could  be  seen  the  shore  and  the  fiord  with 
its  background  of  noble  hills. 

Sam  and  Grant  started  up  with  sudden 
exclamations,  and  stared  in  speechless  won- 
der at  the  object  which  met  their  gaze.  And 
truly  there  was  cause  for  astonishment;  for 
there,  on  the  shore  close  to  the  water's  edge, 
stood  the  fair  Raneilda,  clothed  in  the  gor- 
geous costume  of  a  Norwegian  bride. 

"  Assuredly  you  are  a  wizard,"  cried 
Grant,  glancing  at  his  friend. 

"  Not  so,"  replied  Fred.  "  I  met  sweet 
Raneilda  last  night  at  her  father's  cottage, 
and  begged  of  her  to  come  here  at  a  certain 
hour  this  morning  in  the  costume  of  a  bride, 
in  order  that  my  friend,  the  artist,  might 
paint  her.  She  hesitated  and  blushed  a 
good  deal  at  first,  but  at  length  she  agreed, 
and,  as  you  see,  is  punctual  in  keeping  her 
appointment." 


•  CONCLUSION.  171 

Fred  now  went  down  to  Raneilda  and 
brought  her  up  to  the  house;  Sam  Sorrel  at 
once  placed  her  in  a  good  position,  seized  his 
brushes,  and  began  the  portrait. 

He  was  delighted  with  the  dress,  for  it 
glittered  with  gold  and  silver  ornaments. 
The  crown  was  of  pure  silver  covered  with 
gold.  The  breastplate  was  red  cloth  orna- 
mented with  silver-gilt  brooches,  beads  of 
various  colors,  silver  chains,  and  small, 
round  looking-glasses.  There  was  also  a 
belt  ornamented  with  gold  and  silver.  Al- 
together, Raneilda  looked  much  more  like 
the  Queen  of  Norway  than  a  poor  peasant 
girl. 

It  is  necessary  to  inform  the  reader  that 
the  greater  part  of  this  costume  did  not  be- 
long to  the  girl.  In  fact,  it  did  not  belong 
to  anyone  in  particular.  It  is  the  custom  in 
Norway  for  each  district  to  have  a  marriage 
dress   for   general   use.      The  crown,   the 


172  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

breastplate,  and  the  belt  are  public  property, 
and  may  be  hired  by  the  girls  who  are  about 
to  be  married,  at  a  few  shillings  for  each 
occasion. 

While  Sam  was  busy  with  his  portrait 
Grant  went  out  to  search  for  plants,  and 
Fred  went  out  to  search  for  Hans  and  to 
carry  out  the  remainder  of  his  plot.  He 
soon  found  the  young  pilot. 

"  Hans,"  said  he,  "  follow  me;  I  wish  to 
speak  with  you." 

Hans  was  quite  willing  to  follow  Fred  to 
the  moon  if  he  had  chosen  to  lead  the  way. 

"  I  am  going  to  show  you  a  very  pretty 
sight,  Hans;  step  this  way.  Here,  in  this 
room." 

He  threw  open  the  door  and  led  him  in. 
The  young  Norseman  entered  with  a  smile, 
but  the  smile  suddenly  vanished,  his  blue 
eyes  opened  to  their  utmost  width,  and  he 
stood  rooted  to  the  floor,  unable  to  speak. 


CONCLUSION.  173 

"  Tuts !  what  means  this  ?  "  cried  Sam,  in 
disgust  at  being  interrupted. 

"Raneilda!"  gasped  her  lover. 

The  bride  covered  her  face  with  her 
hands. 

"  Very  good !  excellent !  "  exclaimed 
Grant,  who  chanced  to  pass  at  the  moment, 
and  peeped  in  at  the  open  window. 

"  Hurrah !  "  cried  Bob  Bowie,  who  just 
then  came  up  to  announce  that  the  Snow- 
flake  was  ready  for  sea. 

"  She  won't  be  wanted  for  some  days 
yet,"  cried  Fred,  bursting  into  a  fit  of 
laughter  as  he  seized  Hans  by  the  arm, 
dragged  him  into  another  room  and  shut  the 
door. 

"  Now,  Hans,"  said  he  earnestly,  "  I  am 
going  to  pay  you  off.  Nay,  man,  be  not 
cast  down;  I  did  not  take  you  into  yonder 
room  to  mock  you,  but  to  show  you  how 
pretty  Raneilda  looked  in  her  bridal  dress." 


174  CHASING    THE    SUN. 

Fred  paused  for  a  moment,  and  the 
Norseman  sighed  and  shook  his  head. 

"  You  must  know,"  resumed  Fred,  "  that 
I  wish  to  dance  at  your  wedding,  Hans,  and 
in  order  that  I  may  do  so,  I  mean  to  have 
you  married  at  once.  (Hans  stared).  You 
told  me  in  Bergen  that  you  wanted  some 
sort  of  work  that  would  bring  you  good  pay. 
(Hans  nodded  his  head.)  Well,  I  will  give 
you  a  hundred  dollars  for  the  time  you  have 
been  with  me." 

(Hans'  face  brightened,  and  he  shook 
hands  with  Fred,  according  to  Norwegian 
custom  when  a  gift  is  presented  or  a  gen- 
erous payment  made.) 

"  Now,"  continued  Fred,  "  did  you  not  tell 
me  that  two  hundred  dollars  would  enable 
you  to  take  your  father's  farm  off  his  hands  ? 
(Hans  nodded  again.)  And  is  Raneilda 
willing  to  marry  you  when  you  can  afford 
to  ask  her?     (Hans  nodded,  this  time  very 


CONCLUSION.  175 

decidedly.)  Well,  Hans,  I  have  been  very 
much  pleased  with  the  way  in  which  you 
have  conducted  yourself  while  in  my  service; 
you  have  done  your  duty  well.  (Hans 
smiled  and  looked  happy.)  But  you  have 
done  more  than  that.  (Hans  looked  sur- 
prised.) You  have  been  the  means  of  en- 
abling me  to  see  the  sun  all  night  at  a  time 
when  I  should  otherwise  have  missed  it.  I 
owe  you  something  for  that.  Moreover, 
you  pulled  me  out  of  that  rapid  by  the  neck, 
when  I  caught  the  thirty-four-pound 
salmon,  and  so,  perhaps,  were  the  means  of 
saving  my  life;  and  certainly  you  saved  me 
that  salmon.  For  all  this,  and  for  many 
other  good  deeds,  I  owe  you  a  debt  of  grati- 
tude. Now,  Hans,  you  must  know  that  it 
is  impossible  to  pay  a  debt  of  gratitude  in 
full,  for,  however  much  you  may  pay,  there 
is  always  something  more  owing.  (Hans 
looked  puzzled. )     This  debt,  then,  I  cannot 


176  CHASING    THE    SUN. 

pay  up  at  once,  but  I  can  prove  to  you  that 
I  consider  myself  your  debtor  by  making  you 
a  present  of  another  hundred  dollars.  Here 
is  the  money,  my  lad,  so  go  and  tell  Ra- 
neilda  to  get  ready  as  soon  as  possible." 

Hans  stared  in  wonder  and  unbelief,  first 
at  the  money,  then  at  Fred.  Then  a  look 
of  triumph  gleamed  in  his  eyes  and  he 
seized  Fred's  hand  and  wrung  it.  Then  he 
uttered  a  shout  and  ran  to  Raneilda  and 
kissed  her.  Fred  kissed  her  too.  Sam  Sor- 
rel and  Grant,  not  knowing  exactly  what 
to  do,  kissed  her  also;  and  Bob  Bowie,  who 
was  under  the  belief  that  they  were  all  mad, 
made  a  grasp  at  the  poor  girl,  but  missed 
her;  for  Raneilda  was  overwhelmed  with 
confusion  and  ran  nimbly  out  of  the  room, 
leaving  her  crown  behind  her.  Hans  Erics- 
son hastily  picked  it  up  and  ran  after  her, 
leaving  Fred  Temple  to  explain  things  to  his 
astonished  friends  as  he  best  could. 


CONCLUSION.  177 

So  that  was  the  end  of  that  matter. 

But  that  was  by  no  means  the  end  of  the 
whole  affair.  Before  the  Snowftake  left  the 
fiord  Hans  and  Raneilda  were  married,  as 
all  true  lovers  ought  to  be. 

The  fair  bride  was  once  again  decked  out 
in  the  queen-like  garments  which  had  for- 
merly filled  Sam  and  Grant  with  so  great 
surprise  and  admiration;  and  Fred,  as  he 
had  promised,  danced  at  the  Norseman's 
wedding.  And  not  only  did  Fred  dance, 
but  so  did  his  friends,  aye,  and  his  whole 
ship's  crew.  And  it  would  have  done  your 
heart  good,  reader,  to  have  seen  the  way  in 
which  the  Jack-tars  footed  it  on  that  occasion 
on  the  green  grass,  and  astonished  the 
Norsemen.  But  it  must  also  be  told  that 
the  Norsemen  were  not  a  whit  behindhand, 
for  they  showed  the  tars  a  number  of  capers 
and  new  steps  which  they  had  never  before 
seen  or  even  dreamed  of. 


178  CHASING    THE   SUN. 

Just  before  the  ball  began  there  was 
heard  a  sound  resembling  the  yells  of  an 
exceedingly  young  pig  in  its  dying  agonies. 
This  was  a  violin.  It  was  accompanied  by 
a  noise  somewhat  like  the  beating  of  a  flour- 
mill,  which  was  found  to  proceed  from  the 
heel  of  the  fiddler,  who  had  placed  a  wooden 
board  under  his  left  foot.  Thus  he  beat 
time  and  a  drum,  as  it  were,  at  once.  He 
also  beat  Paganini  and  all  other  fiddlers  hol- 
low. Round  this  manufacturer  of  sweet 
sounds  did  the  lads  and  lasses  flock,  and  soon 
gave  evidence  of  their  sympathy  with  the 
rest  of  mankind  by  beginning  tg  dance. 

Certainly  elegance  is  not  a  characteristic 
of  the  Norwegian  peasantry.  Having 
formed  a  ring,  they  went  to  work  with  the 
utmost  gravity  and  decorum.  Scarcely  a 
laugh  was  heard;  nothing  approaching  to  a 
shout  during  the  whole  evening.  The  na- 
ture of  their  dances  was  utterly  incompre- 


CONCLUSION.  179 

hensible.  The  chief  object  the  young  men 
had  in  view  seemed  to  be  to  exhibit  their 
agility  by  every  species  of  bound  and  fling 
of  which  the  human  frame  is  capable,  includ- 
ing the  rather  desperate  feat  of  dashing 
themselves  flat  upon  the  ground.  The  prin- 
cipal care  of  the  girls  seemed  to  be  to  keep 
out  of  the  way  of  the  men,  and  avoid  being 
killed  by  a  frantic  kick  or  felled  by  a  random 
blow. 

But  the  desperate  feature  in  each  dance 
did  not  appear  at  once.  Each  man  began  by 
seizing  his  partner  and  dragging  her  reck- 
lessly round  the  circle,  ever  and  anon  twirl- 
ing her  round  violently  with  one  arm,  and 
catching  her  round  the  waist  with  the  other 
in  order,  apparently,  to  save  her  from  total 
destruction.  To  this  treatment  the  fair 
damsels  submitted  for  some  time  with  down- 
cast eyes  and  pleased  yet  bashful  looks. 
Then  the  men  seemed  to  fling  them  off  and 


l8o  CHASING    THE    SUN. 

go  at  it  entirely  on  their  own  account,  yet 
keeping  up  a  sort  of  revolving  course  round 
their  partners,  like  satellites  encircling  their 
separate  suns.  Presently  the  men  grew 
furious;  rushed  about  the  circle  in  wild,  er- 
ratic courses,  leaped  into  the  air,  and,  while 
in  that  position,  slapping  the  soles  of  their 
feet  with  both  hands. 

Then  they  became  a  little  more  sane,  and 
a  waltz,  or  something  like  it,  was  got  up. 
It  was  quite  pretty,  and  some  of  the  move- 
ments graceful;  but  the  wild  spirit  of  the 
glens  seemed  to  re-enter  them  again  rather 
suddenly.  The  females  were  expelled  from 
the  ring  altogether,  and  the  young  men 
braced  themselves  for  a  little  really  heavy 
work;  they  dashed,  flung,  and  hurled  them- 
selves about  like  maniacs,  stood  on  their 
heads  and  walked  on  their  hands;  in  short, 
became  a  company  of  acrobats,  yet  always 
kept  up  a  sort  of  sympathetic  attempt  at 


CONCLUSION.  i8r 

time  with  the  fiddler,  who  went  on  pound- 
ing his  wooden  board  with  his  left  heel  and 
murdering  an  inconceivable  multitude  of 
young  pigs,  with  a  degree  of  energy  that  was 
only  equaled  by  that  of  those  to  whom  he 
fiddled. 

But  not  a  man,  woman,  or  child  there  gave 
vent  to  his  or  her  feelings  in  laughter.  They 
smiled,  they  commented  in  a  soft  tone,  they 
looked  happy;  nay,  they  were  happy,  but 
they  did  not  laugh.  Once  only  did  they 
give  way  a  little,  and  that  was  when  an  as- 
piring youth,  after  having  nearly  leaped 
down  his  own  throat,  walked  round  the  circle 
on  his  hands. 

Even  Tittles  danced  that  day.  He 
danced  in  and  out  among  the  feet  of  the 
dancers  in  a  most  perplexing  manner,  and 
got  his  unhappy  toes  and  his  unfortunate 
tail  trod  upon  to  a  terrible  extent.  But 
Tittles  did  not  seem  to  mind.     It  is  true  that 


182  CHASING    THE    SUN. 

he  gave  a  yelp  of  pain  on  each  occasion,  but 
he  instantly  forgave  the  offender  if  he 
looked  at  all  sorry.  Upon  the  whole,  Tit- 
tles was  the  cause  of  much  noise,  no  little 
confusion,  and  great  amusement  at  that  cele- 
brated wedding. 

Thus  did  Fred  Temple  and  his  friends 
spend  their  last  day  in  Norway. 

At  midnight  they  set  sail  for  Old  Eng- 
land. On  rising  next  morning  they  found 
themselves  far  out  among  the  islands  of  the 
coast.  Soon  after  that  they  were  out  of 
sight  of  land,  heaving  on  the  swell  of  the 
ocean,  thinking  over  the  varied  and  stirring 
scenes  of  the  past  three  months  with  a  sort 
of  feeling  that  it  must  have  been  all  a  dream, 
and  wishing  heartily  that  they  were  still 
away  in  the  far  north  enjoying  the  endless 
daylight  and — chasing  the  Sun. 


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